Well, here's the new chapter!

Acronos: "I thought you said it would be shorter!"

I did, I honestly thought it would be.  I actually skimped a bit on the battle details and such.  I'm surprised it ended up like this.

Riku: "Hmm, a bit of a short cameo.  And my girlfriend to be is evil!"

Sienna: "(Rapier to throat) Now what was that, Riku?"

Riku: "(Laughs nervously) Uhh, nothing?"

Yes!  Now that he's whipped he can't do a damn thing to annoy me, Bwahahaha!

Sora: "(Behind bars) I don't like being in prison or war!"

Sorry man, I figured as much, but I already told you that if you were imprisoned things might go smoother.

Kairi: "(Appears behind him) Are you sure you don't like it back here?  They gave you a PS2!"

Blasphemy: "She has a point, I didn't intend for you to be tortured, just held in captivity."

Lance: "If I remember carefully, the boss-man only told us to make sure the worlds weren't sealed and stuff.  Feel free to walk around the castle if you want."

Zidane: "No!  He'll eat my food!"

Sora: "FOODWHERE?!"

Oh boy.

Dante: "This chapter is okay, but it kinda doesn't feel as good as you usually do."

Yeah, I know, it sucks, but at least it gets a few points across.

Devil: "Finally I get to play an actual part!"

Archangel: "Yes, and me too, though not as large."

Disclaimer: "Author does not own any concept from a game, only his own.  Author does not claim ownership of anything even remotely legally licensed, beep!"

Riku: "It lives?"

Yeah, I fixed it up a bit.

Maioko: "(Reads a bit) This is okay, but you're lacking a bit in the humor."

Wait until you read the ending, now if you'll excuse me, (leaves)

Acronos: "Where's he off to?"

Narrator: "He wants to escape before anyone reads the ending."

Acronos: "Uh-oh."

  When we last left the characters, I gave you a cliffhanger by having a man in a red trench coat and white hair level a gun at Acronos' head and pulled the trigger.  I suppose you expect me to say that Acronos dodged it, right?  Well that isn't what happened! 

  The gun was about a foot away, and Acronos is only capable of dodging bullets if he knows the gun's about to be fired.  I doubt even an Agent from the Matrix could dodge at that close of a range. 

  Anyway, all Acronos was capable of was going forward a bit so the bullet didn't go through his brain entirely.  He fell to the ground, blood oozing from his skull. 

  The guy spun his gun and put it back into its holster.  Every single person there stood gaping at the corpse that had once been the keyblade master.

Acane: "(In shock) He... died?  How...?"

Maioko: "(Unable to move or think)"

Red: "Hmm?  You've never seen a dead body or something?"

Tidus: "... (Gathering rage)... You b******!  Acronos was our friend and you!  You... killed him... (Sad)"

Red: "(Raised eyebrow) You're friends with a Devil?"

Acane: "One-third Devil..."

Red: "(Nonchalant) Damn.  Oh well."

Maioko: "(Regaining feeling, mainly rage) 'Oh well'?  'OH WELL'!?  What the hell kind of merciless killer are you!?"

Red: "Name's Dante.  I'm a Devil Hunter."

Selphie: "(Sadly) That doesn't change that Acronos is dead."

Dante: "Nah, doubt it."

Group: "Huh?"

Dante: "Hmm… 3...2...1... He's up." Acronos, while still on the ground, sort of shakes his head.  He gets up slowly, his eyes red but his demeanor calm.

Acronos: "Oww that hurt!"

Dante: "A bullet to the head kinda does that."

Acronos: "(Shakes his head) I suppose you'd know.  Huh?  Not gonna attempt to cut me in two?"

Dante: "Nope.  Sorry about the bullet, I'm just too used to hunting any and all Devils."

Acronos: "(New Yorker style) Fughetta bout it."

Dante: "Cool.  Name's Dante Sparda, proprietor of Devil Never Cry.  You?"

Acronos: "I'm Acronos, the keyblade master."

Dante: "(Smirking) You don't have a last name?"

Acronos: "(Tauntingly) I do, but if I told you it wouldn't be as interesting."

Dante: "That's okay I guess, Acronos no name keyblade master.  Hey wait, keyblade master?  Oh, I've heard of you-"

Acronos: "Who hasn't?"

Dante: "(raised eyebrow) anyway, I was gonna say that I can help you out.  Since you're a third Devil, even more than before.  Have you ever Devil Triggered?"

Acronos: "Yeah, once or twice, but I can't control it yet." He turns to see the group again gaping, but this time at his apparent resurrection.

Acronos: "(Notices) Uhh, a thing to note with us part-Devils.  If we have enough energy, we can heal from anything.  Since my brain wasn't ripped open, I was capable of healing in a moment."

Dante: "Yeah, head-shots usually kill just about anything." Maioko knew this was one of those occasions where she was expected to jump on Acronos and berate him for nearly dying, only to save some dignity.  She was restraining herself, but immensely surprised.

Acane: "Yay, you're alive!" She jumped forward and hugged him.  Selphie followed, since they both are the hugging type, and everyone else just went and patted him on the shoulder in a friendly manner.  Maioko got over her shock and did the same.

Acronos: "(Under much pressure from hugs and people surrounding him) Ahh, I didn't know I meant so much!  (Joking) I feel loved."

Acane: "Of course, if you died, who'd seal the worlds and stuff?  Well okay, Sora can do that, but you are the only keyblade master so far."

Acronos: "Sigh."

Dante: "Anyway, follow me." He sauntered out of the park and found a lady in black leather that had long, blonde hair, longer even than Acronos'.  Dante addressed her familiarly.

Dante: "Hey Trish."

Trish: "Hey Dante.  Ready for some hunting?"

Dante: "Sorry babe, finished quicker than I thought, maybe coming early wasn't the great idea I first thought it was."

Trish: "Damn.  Oh well... Who're the kids?"

Dante: "The one with the blood on his head's the keyblade master.  Dunno the rest, except that that one gets ticked really quick."

Tidus: "(Indignantly) No I don't!  Well, okay, maybe I do."

Trish: "Don't tell me, you wanna help them out, right?"

Dante: "(smirking) You read me like a book babe."

Trish: "How though, I only took my motorcycle."

Dante: "Hmm, it seems Alastor was right in telling me to take the pickup."

Acronos: "Riding around in a pickup in New Jersey, or wherever we are?  (Laughs evilly and rubs hands) I'm gonna like this!" Dante just shakes his head mildly.  Kairi jumps in shotgun, while everyone else stays in the back, except for Tifa who decided to go with Trish's motorcycle. 

  Trish revved up her engine and zoomed off, cackling.  Dante made the pickup go as fast as possible, but it just wasn't fast at all with the weight on it.

Acronos: "Hey Dante!  Wanna go faster?"

Dante: "Hell yeah, but I didn't put any nitrous in this car."

Acronos: "With what I'm gonna do, you're gonna wonder why nitrous is slow!  Haste!" The truck zoomed forward at an insane speed, terrifying everyone else, but making Acronos and Dante laugh like little kids.  When caught up with Trish, she was incredulous.  After the momentary shock, she reprimanded them and ordered them to slow down.

Dante: "Now there's only one answer a self-respecting Devil such as myself can give.  I don't wanna!" Cue the anime falls and sweat-drops.

Trish: "Don't care, but I don't feel like being blamed for you running over half the population!" Dante slows down, a boyish groan escaping his and Acronos' mouths.  Acronos sat back down, alone. 

  He'd chosen a corner to think for a while.  A bit odd to switch from maniacal laughter to deep thought in a moment, huh?  Anyway, Maioko was milling over what had just happened. 

  Acronos had nearly died, but didn't, showcasing another dark power she didn't know, and Acane had been the first to hug him.

Maioko: "Yeesh, why'd she jump on him like that?  She doesn't strike me as the hugging type.  Getting jealous, are we?  Not you again.  I'm back.  Anyway, who is she to attack someone you've clearly claimed?  I don't claim ownership of Acronos, it's not like he's mine, we're just friends, remember? 

  Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, lying to yourself is just going to make it worse... Make what worse?  The rejection of course!  You're letting your chance slip away, and eventually you'll realize I've been telling the truth this whole time and you'll go to tell him, but find him already in love!  That's really gonna suck, eh?  ...  I'm just going to go talk to him.  Oh, and shut up. " Maioko was mildly shaken from this conversation with the annoying voice, and just needed something to do that didn't involve her mind.

Maioko: "Hey Acronos."

Acronos: "Hey, what's up?  You seem shaken by something."

Maioko: "Wow he's good It's nothing.  Anyway, can I talk to you a while?"

Acronos: "(Sits up, goes into listening mode) Sure, what's up?"

Maioko: "Nothing much, just wanna chat if you don't mind. (Acronos nods approval) Anyway, Uhh... What's it like being a third Devil?  You know, getting shot in the head and living?"

Acronos: "... Umm, kinda odd.  I mean, I don't feel any different in particular, but I know my eyes are still red and my energy is mainly dark.  I think I can feel a bit more power than usual, and a bit of a desire to kill. 

  As to getting shot and living, my head just hurt and I felt like you usually do when you're hurt and someone casts Cure on you, that strange feeling that you should be in pain but you're not, except without the warmth."

Maioko: "So, no extreme urges to slaughter everyone?"

Acronos: "I already went past that phase.  When my Devil side first woke up, while I was a kid, there was an immense urge to destroy everything and laugh maniacally over the corpses.  Of course, as a kid, I didn't, and still don't, want to kill anyone unless I absolutely have to.  I tried to suppress it like dust under a rug, but that wasn't about to happen. 

  Finally I learnt to meditate properly and I dealt with it.  I separated myself from it and connected my rage to it, so it would have a place.  I sound crazy, but just so long as I'm no threat to anyone, I'm happy."

Maioko: "Wow.  You've got a strong will."

Acronos: "(Sheepishly) Thanks." They continued talking for a long while, and when Dante pulled up to his office, they jumped out and continued talking.  Under similar circumstances were Auron and Acane, but they were bickering happily. 

  Acronos and Maioko sat on a nearby pool table and continued talking about who knows what.  Dante talked with Trish for a moment about all this, and then went to chat with Acronos, but found him chatting with Maioko.

Dante: "Oh boy.  They're really into this.  Sigh, kids.  I guess I'll leave the lovebirds alone.  (Notes that just about everyone is talking to each other) Oh great. " He went up to Tifa, hoping to get someone's opinion.

Dante: "Hey, any idea when they're going to stop?"

Tifa: "Unless something loud and drastic happens that requires immediate attention, not until night."

Dante: "Crap.  (Boyish evil grin) Guess it's time to see what my rocket can do."

Trish: "You don't know what you just unleashed."

Tifa: "I actually think I might. (Remembers Cid, shivers)" Dante was going to go find his old rocket that he'd stuffed ten pounds of gunpowder into, but a loud yawn greeted him.

Acronos: "Sleepy."

Maioko: "Okay.  Dante, got a place to stay?"

Dante: "Ahh!  Not for so many people!"

Acronos: "Not even if we sleep on the floor?"

Dante: "Well, that might work, but don't expect to get much sleep for a while, some of the better jobs come at this hour."

Acronos: "Okay." They all continue chatting further until midnight, when several people just fell asleep.  Momentarily pausing their conversation, Acronos and Maioko took a moment to put those asleep into sleeping bags.

  Just as they finished putting Tidus and Yuna into their bags, Maioko blinked a few times, looked really tired, and fell asleep.  Acronos caught her.

Acronos: "Whoa!  Watch out!  (Quieter) Sleep well." He finds her a sleeping bag and places her there.  He felt really tired, and noticed that Maioko was still gripping his leg.

Acronos: "Well, sleep is usually a good idea." He pulled out a sleeping bag and crawled in.  Somehow, Maioko wrapped an arm around him, looking very comfortable.  Acronos sighed and went to sleep.  Dante looked around.

Dante: "Okay, that's enough.  Time to get some sleep myself.  " Everyone else had fallen asleep, so he jumped in bed and fell asleep himself.  The next morning Dante woke up to the sun.

Dante: "Ah, another fine day of business.  Probably no Devils out right now, but who cares. " He walked out calmly and met up with Trish mid-way.

Trish: "Good morning Dante."

Dante: "Yawn!  Hey Trish, bright day, neh?"

Trish: "Yep.  Lets go check on the munchkins."

Tidus: "(Walking by) We are not munchkins!"

Dante: "Do you enjoy barging in on people's conversations?"

Tidus: "(Sarcastic) Yes, it is one of my twisted pleasures." He walks away muttering in the Al Bhed language about idiotic Devil Hunters.

Dante: "Did I just get out-insulted by a kid?"

Trish: "(Holding back giggles) I think so."

Dante: "Oh boy, I need to get into another bar-fight, they usually have good insults."

Trish: "Can't get drunk now, you still have to help the part-Devil keyblade master."

Dante: "Right, almost forgot." They went downstairs, with Trish stopping by the bathroom to comb her hair.

Dante: "Morning all." Everyone responded in kind.  Acronos and Maioko continued chatting away.

Dante: "Hey lovebirds!  (They jump away from each other, surprised, and Maioko growls at him) I need the keyblade master a bit, mind giving him up a while?"

Maioko: "See you in a bit, Acronos." He goes off with Dante so he can give him a key chain.  Trish comes over, still combing her hair.

Trish: "Hey.  Need a comb?"

Maioko: "(Examines hair) Well, maybe." Trish offers her a comb and Maioko begins brushing through her hair.  After quite a while, she complains of the knots.

Maioko: "Ugh, I've got a ton of tangles.  When Acronos gets out I'm gonna ask him to set up the bathhouse."

Trish: "(Devilish smile) You two like each other, eh?  Have you seduced him yet?"

Maioko: "WHAT?!  First off, I don't even like him in that way.  Second off, what am I supposed to say? (Acronos steps out, looking extremely tired from trying to control the full force of his Devil side, and is about to say something, his eyes changing between the usual brown to rust, to crimson) 'Acronos, come, we both love one another.  Let us then join in the bonds of flesh that a man and woman are capable of'."

  Trish smirks evilly.  You should see Acronos right now, his eyes are huge!  One eye's twitching mildly and his mouth is hanging open, slack-jawed.

Trish: "Not bad, but a little old-fashioned and kinda weird.  First off, you gotta make your voice seductive."

Maioko: "(Does so) Like this?"

Trish: "Yep.  Now, be more blunt and direct too."

Maioko: "So what would I say: 'I love you.  Please come and lets-'"

Trish: "Hold on, we've got kids around, so don't be too blunt."

Maioko: "Enough of this, it's not like I'm ever gonna say that to Acronos."

Trish: "(Evil smirk) You just did."

(Are somebody's eyes supposed to get that large?  Narrator: "I don't think even anime allows that.")

  Maioko's eyes widen in surprise as she turns around.  She sees Acronos and her face suddenly becomes very, very red.  Acronos just stands there for a moment, mouth still agape, and eyes still huge.  Tidus comes by and sees his first movement.

Tidus: "TIMBER!" Indeed, Acronos' fall made the sound of a redwood falling and he fell to the ground with his eyes still open, completely knocked out.  Maioko just keeps staring, completely terrified of what might happen when he awoke, she had just technically admitted that she loved him, though she didn't. "Sure, just keep telling yourself that, but you know you hope he gets up and kisses you.  Shut up, stupid inner voice... "

Tidus: "Yeesh Maioko, what'd you do?  Use one of your knockout pressure points?"

Maioko: "(Looks at Trish) I'm about to..."

Trish: "(Nervous laugh) Umm, can't we talk this out?" Just as Maioko gets up, ready to kick Trish's ass, Acronos gets up and begins to calmly dust his back off.  After a moment he speaks, but his voice is deeper, more evil, but in a seductive way.  His eyes are completely crimson.

Acronos: "Spy, didn't Mundus program you to be able to clean the floors?  I think Griffon had a cleaner residence."

Trish: "'Spy'?  I am not a spy!"

Acronos: "(Continues dusting off) That's your type.  You were created as a spy."

Trish: "Well, that's true I suppose.  Weren't you just out?"

Acronos: "Well yes, the kid's mind overloaded.  He's still a bit too shy for his own good, maybe I should get him a woman."

Trish: "Huh?"

Acronos: "Oh, excuse me, I forgot to introduce myself.  I am the kid's Devil side, with no other name but his since he wouldn't have known his ancestors' greatest rival."

Trish: "What?"

Acronos: "Multiple personalities.  Hey princess."

Maioko: "'Princess'?  Why'd you call me that?"

Acronos: "That's the kid's subconscious name for you, so I figured it was his pet name for you or something."

Maioko: "Really? Acronos thinks of me as a princess?  Sigh, I'm probably just a princess of heart and he's referring to me by class. "

Acronos: "Nah, you're not an actual princess, as I said, it's a pet name."

Maioko: "You read minds?"

Acronos: "Nah, your energy, your chi, was radiating off discontent and such, so I figured that was what you were thinking."

Tidus: "... What just happened here?  Acronos' Devil form, isn't it a savage killer?"

Acronos: "The kid has only been dealing with my basic instincts.  You know your instincts have to deal with killing everything too."

Tidus: "Oh.  You're right."

Trish: "So, what did Dante give you?"

Acronos: "A key chain that allows the kid to Trigger my form when he wants, and a message.  He's got a new job, and since the keyhole was near the location, and the fact that the kid's a goody-goody, our group's going too.  You can come too, spy, err, Trish." He shows off his new blade.  A broadsword that became larger at the end, but in a square manner instead of a tear-shaped manner, a skull impaled on a spike as the symbol, the hand guard being two dragon heads biting down upon the blade, with wings coming out of their backs to form the hand guard, and many spikes upon every inch of the blade.

Trish: "We leave tomorrow, right?"

Acronos: "We leave whenever everyone is ready, we have a jet waiting." Everyone got ready and they left quickly.  On the plane, regular Acronos woke up and Dante talked to him.

Dante: "Okay, with the keyblade you have now, and any stronger one, you can Devil Trigger at will.  Well, actually, you need a catalyst, sorta.  If you use your energy, or mp, or some sort of power, you can Trigger whenever."

Acronos: "I suppose I can store the energy away for later?"

Dante: "Yeah."

Acronos: "So if I have no extra energy, I can use my mp or something to Trigger.  However, if I use heartless hearts or something, I can Trigger whenever, right?"

Dante: "Yep.  Oh, and another thing to mention is that each of your keyblades can increase in strength."

Acronos: "Really?  How?"

Dante: "It depends.  (Explains about each keyblade and it's powers)"

Acronos: "Oh, cool." The plane ride was fine, but Maioko kept looking at Acronos strangely, and him at her (Note that as soon as he'd finished talking with Dante, Maioko had explained the whole situation).  They landed in a small village in the mountains.

Acane: "Hey, is this the place?  I thought that a place being attacked by Devils would be a little less... Alive."

Dante: "Oh boy. Great, I have to tell them everything, don't I? This isn't the place, this is just the nearest landing spot."

Acronos: "Well then, where to from here?"

Trish: "Well, we're aiming for some ruins further up, and before you say anything, they aren't actual ruins anymore."

Dante: "Yeah, the place was completely reconstructed and rebuilt."

Maioko: "So, how are we getting there?"

Dante: "How else?  We walk!  (Cell phone rings, he pulls it out) Devil Never Cry.  What?  Yeah, that's the password.  Hmm?  You need what?  Oh boy, can't this wait a bit, I'm in a mission.  Huh?  How did you know, huh?  Really?  Well, okay I guess.  You're paying how much?  Holy, that's almost as much as this mission is paying!  Consider it done then!  (Hangs up) It appears we've got another mission."

Trish: "Dante isn't that pushing it a bit?"

Dante: "Not really.  If you kids don't mind, we'll split up and go at it that way."

Acronos: "Sounds fun."

Maioko: "Why not?"

Auron: "Now how are we going to split up?"

Maioko: "Hmm, I think we should have one team being led by Dante, and the other by Trish, since you guys are really strong and know this world."

Acronos: "I'm going with Dante, I need to learn more about Devil Triggering."

Tidus: "Why don't you just ask your Devil side?"

Acronos: "Huh?"

Maioko: "(Whacks him upside the head) Shut up!"

Acronos: "Hazuva?"

Maioko: "Ehehe, it's nothing."

Acronos: "Alrighty then..."

Dante: "Okay.  Trish, all this mission requires is an artifact.  You know that place I said looked interesting?  That's the place."

Trish: "How much are we getting paid?" He whispers it into her ear and she smiles.

Trish: "Well, now I know why you took the mission."

Acronos: "Umm, we all know who we're going to end up with, right? (Everyone nods) well then, since you're leader, would you care to split us up, Maioko?"

Maioko: "Umm, lets see.  Tifa and Kairi with us, since you know the buddy system you made up puts us together.  Umm..."

Tidus: "Yuna and I will go with Trish, along with Wakka and Lulu if that's okay with you guys."

Yuna: "I will go with you, Tidus."

Wakka: "Hmm, I need to keep an eye on you two, or three."

Lulu: "Certainly.  I am sorry Dante, but I believe that being near your personality would drive me mad."

Dante: "No problem, babe. (She cringes) Uhh, Lulu." She nods in acceptance.

Selphie: "We'll go with Trish too.  I'm answering for Irvine as well, since he's kinda busy talking with Dante."

Maioko: "Acronos, would you mind separating them?"

Acronos: "Sure."

Acane: "(Happily) That leaves us with you!" Acronos goes to see what Irvine and Dante are so enraptured in, but gets drawn in himself.

Dante: "I still say handguns are better, they can shoot faster."

Irvine: "Yeah, but the shotgun is stronger, and you just can't get past the feeling of getting up close and blasting them in the face."

Dante: "Yeah, that rocks, but there's still the speed and techniques you can do with handguns."

Acronos: "If you want techniques, darts are the way to go."

Dante: "Yeah, but guns have better range and accuracy."

Acronos: "Not necessarily true, I can throw a dart through stuff your gun couldn't even pierce, and probably at the same range." The argument continued in this vein for a while.

Trish: "Okay, let's go!"

Maioko: "No such luck, our leaders are kinda busy."

Trish: "(Shakes head) Boys." She goes over and whacked them upside the heads, and they went on their way.  They reached a fork in the road.

Dante: "Well, this is where we separate."

Trish: "Right.  I'll see you."

Dante: "(Realizing sappiness, smirks) Ten minutes?"

Trish: "(Returns smirk) Five minutes."

Dante: "Heh, more than enough."

Acronos: "Alright guys, see you.  Hey, Tidus!"

Tidus: "Yeah?"

Acronos: "You're a pretty good leader, try and keep everyone in check, and try to control your temper."

Tidus: "Right!"

Irvine: "Auron, try to have some personality for once."

Auron: "I have a personality, it's just of a more stoic nature."

Tifa: "Good luck trying to stand all these arguments."

Trish: "I think I'll be okay." They left on their separate ways.  Now, to another place.

Riku: "Ahh, another world sealed. "

Sienna: "Phew, that's about it.  Okay, enough slacking, we've got another world to seal!"

Riku: "But we just finished this one!  Can't we take a short break?"

Sienna: "Do you want another person to go through what we did?"

Riku: "Okay, okay!  Enough with the guilt trips!  I'm just saying that two relaxed warriors are usually stronger than two stressed and tired ones.  Besides, Sora is still out there sealing any worlds we don't get.  Lets take a break at Twilight Town."

Sienna: "I thought you called Sora the lazy bum.  Looks like you're the lazy one."

Riku: "Fine, fine.  What's our next world?"

Sienna: "Hello, you're the one who senses where the heartless are?"

Riku: "And the one who does most of the dirty work."

Sienna: "Not my fault that the keyhole is attracted to a keyblade wielder more than me."

Riku: "(Laughing) Yep, it doesn't recognize you and your stupid energy transferring amulet."

Sienna: "(Pulls out rapier) Watch what you say, this is my only memory from my home-world."

Riku: "Yeesh, touchy.  Fine, let's go." He conjures a dark portal and they leave.  They appear in a forest.

Riku: "Hmm… There's someone watching us.  I think this might be an ambush."

Sienna: "Yeah..." Suddenly!  A horde of Pokémon rushed at them.

Riku: "NOOOOOOO!!!! I HATE POKÉMON!!!  DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

  The resulting explosion of dark energy sent them all flying, and Riku was left panting with wide eyes, like a man who'd just vented most of his rage.

Sienna: "(Pats on back) That'll do Riku, that'll do."

Riku: "I really hate Pokémon."

Sienna: "But you're pronouncing the little dash thing."

Riku: "Failure to properly say someone's name is an insult to yourself, not them."

Sienna: "Very good Riku, and here I was thinking you were completely blonde."

Riku: "I AM NOT BLONDE!!! My hair is silver or white, not blue, not blonde.  Got that, colorblind?"

Sienna: "What?  Why you, get back here and fight me!" They proceeded to run around for a long while.  Finally they bumped into some kids, one with a red hat, one with red hair and the other with closed eyes.

Riku: "No!  Not them, anything but them!"

Sienna: "Quit your whining, how bad can all this be?"

  Little does she know.  She never had a smaller sibling, nor did she watch TV often as a little kid, (Not that I have a sibling myself).  I fear for the minor amount of sanity Riku has left.  I also fear for my own if I remain here any longer.  Hmm, I think I'll check up on Sora.

  Cue the sounds of war and battle.  Yep, Sora ended up in a world in the middle of a war.  He found the keyhole, but unfortunately it's on the other side, and he knows that anyone even coming from this side in peace chances getting shot.  Of course he was ticked, but he didn't want to get involved, and didn't think he could win the war himself anyway. 

  He was currently pouting at an inn, hoping the war might stop like a storm.  An old lady he didn't mind the company of came up to him.  She was the owner of the inn along with her husband.

Old Lady: "Little one, are you still troubled about the war?"

Sora: "Yeah, Uhh, there's so much destruction and lives lost, (He can't meddle in the affairs of other worlds that much, and can't exactly explain the keyholes)"

Old Lady: "Well, you're a young and strong boy, maybe you could make a difference if you joined?"

Sora: "No!  No, I can't.  I... Made a promise to an old friend that I wouldn't meddle."

Old Lady: "Oh, well I know how important honor is to you boys.  Just be careful."  Sora keeps thinking about how he could possibly get across the battlefield, when a (stupid) idea hits him.  Why not glide across the entire area and end up well into the borders?

Sora: "Hey, ma'am?  Where's the highest point one this side of the battle and nearby to the fighting?"

Old Lady: "I'd have to say that Crackling Peaks have the highest elevation nearby, why?"

Sora: "(Smiles) Oh, no reason." That evening he sets out to the peak, aiming to fly by cover of night using his Super Glide technique. 

  Of course, I'm not going to let him do something that stupid, Kairi would kill me!  So lets just say he took a while and got to the exact place as the sun began to rise.

Sora: "Great, now they can see me, but then again there isn't supposed to be anything serious for a while, so... " He jumps and calls on Super Glide.  He zooms forward, going as fast as he can without sacrificing his height. 

  The flight is surreal; Sora flew through the thick mists covering the air as nature awoke itself, and felt totally at peace, for once.

Sora: "So this is what Riku meant by finding my center.  He was right, this is perfection" He continued the flight for a long while, hours judging by the sun.

  He began to tire and get hungry, not to mention that he was still a bit soaked from flying through the clouds earlier on.  He persisted anyway, going forward and onward.  He decided to risk a look down. 

  His height above ground was fine, and he was almost to the other side.  Another hour or so and he'd passed well over everyone's heads and neared a village similar to the one he'd just been at.  Judging the distance and figuring that his current fall would break his legs, he continued, hoping he was aiming for the keyhole. 

  Finally his height was decent for a landing and he dropped onto a field.  Stretching his stiff muscles, he turned to his keyblade wielder's sense of where the keyhole might be.  He turned himself in the direction he felt, and opened his eyes to a girl looking at him a bit too closely.

Sora: "AHH!!" He attempted to jump back, only to fall flat on his rear.

Sora: "Ouch."

Rinoa: "Hello there.  How are you?"

Sora: "Aside from my butt, I'm fine. (She laughs) Name's Sora, yours is?"

Rinoa: "Rinoa.  I have a last name, but we just met so I'll let you suffer."

Sora: "Alrighty.  I'll be seeing you then."

Rinoa: "Nuh-uh, not so fast.  You flew here, gliding on the air.  How'd you manage it?  Don't worry, I won't blow your cover."

Sora: "Uhh, just something I learnt along my journey.  Stuff like that comes with being a keyblade wielder."

Rinoa: "Keyblade wielder huh?  Do you have a ship to go between worlds?"

Sora: "Well not really.  I teleport to places people tell me about."

Rinoa: "Oh, well, that still is enough, right?  Could you take me with you?  I want... To find an old friend."

Sora: "You're from another world?  Well, I guess it wouldn't be meddling, in fact it would probably be meddling to leave you here."

Rinoa: "Yay!  So, where to?"

Sora: "Well, I still have to find the keyhole here."

Rinoa: "Okay, do you know where it is?"

Sora: "That way!"

Rinoa: "Then let's go!" They ran, letting Sora's sense lead them until they came upon a small alter.

Rinoa: "Is this it?"

Sora: "Yeah, but I can feel something else..." He called his keyblade and settled into his stance.  Rinoa readied her wrist-crossbow-type thing.  One shadow rose slowly.  The two looked at it slowly, waiting for something stronger.  It raised its hand and called darkness.  When it had passed, an anti-Sora stood there, decked in armor that allowed movement.  It held a black copy of Sora's keyblade. 

  It stood in a different stance than his, blade raised and at ready.  Sora took this as a more serious threat and charged.  The Anti dodged with ease, and swung its blade down.  Sora dodged with simple ease, and attacked as well. 

  The two clashed blades, separated, and attacked again.  They fought with speed and skill.  Sora had the advantage because he could roll and was a little more agile.  The Anti had the armor on, and its weight gave a little more strength.  The two kept at it, but eventually Sora got tired, but the Anti wasn't even remotely tired. 

  While they both tried to stare each other down, Rinoa aimed her crossbow and fired at a chink in the armor.  The Anti spun around in surprise, which gave Sora a chance to use Ars Arcanum on it's exposed back.  The Anti was seriously damaged, but lived through it. 

  Anti charged at Sora, but he blocked and countered.  It tried to attack again, only to meet with a Firaga spell head on.  It dissipated and became a simple shadow again.  It looked up at Sora, only to meet face first with the keyblade.

Rinoa: "Well, that was interesting."

Sora: "A little more than interesting, I'd say that was... Fun!"

Rinoa: "Right!  So, are you going to seal this keyhole?"

Sora: "Yep." He sealed it and started up the teleport spell.  He finished it, and saw many soldiers coming at them.

Rinoa: "I suppose they want to talk too.  I don't think they're as nice, though." Sora grabbed her wrist.

Sora: "Let's go.  Sorry about the hand, but there needs to be some sort of contact for the spell to work." Rinoa nodded.

Sora: "Do you have a world in mind?"

Rinoa: "(The soldiers were about to get them) Hollow Bastion!" Sora shouts out the final word and they disappear in a flash of light.  They appeared in Hollow Bastion, in the middle of another blizzard.

Sora: "Just great, I hate cold weather."

Rinoa: "I think this is where Squall ended up."

Sora: "Leon?  Yep, he should be here."

Rinoa: "He changed his name? " They hopped up and onward, getting through the blizzard as best they could.  They ran in, shivered, and then laughed.

Sora: "Wow, it was freezing out there!  Hah, any longer and we'd have icicles hanging off our noses!"

Rinoa: "I haven't been that cold in so long!" They continued laughing for a while, and then went exploring.  At one point they found Vincent talking with Rufus Shinra.  Rufus looked over at them.

Rufus: "Ah, the keyblade wielder Sora!  Everyone told me so much about you, but I kind of expected more than a kid."

Sora: "I'm not a kid, I'm fifteen!"

Rufus: "(smirking) As you wish.  Oh?  Now where have I seen you before?" He studies Rinoa very closely, a bit too close for comfort.

Rinoa: "Uhh, do I know you?"

Rufus: "Hmm, no, you don't, but I could swear... Aha!  You're Squall's woman!"

Rinoa: "Huh?"

Rufus: "That's where I've seen you before, Squall carries around an amulet with a picture of his friends, and one of you."

Rinoa: "He does?  I never knew he cared like that..."

Rufus: "Now you do.  Anyway, you're like Valentine over here, you just missed them.  They decided to leave on a journey to search for you guys.  If memory serves, they headed to the Final Fantasy ten world.  However, they finished up there, so you can wait here if you want."

Rinoa: "Sora, thank you for getting me here.  Please go on with your journey without me, I wish to wait here."

Sora: "Okay, but I'll have to wait here a while, teleporting in this weather isn't the best idea."

Rufus: "Another person?  Alright, get some rooms while you can." A little later on, late at night, Sora was looking out the window.  The blizzard had stopped, and he could leave when he wished, but it just didn't seem right to leave just yet.  He stared out at the moon.

Sora: "Kairi, Riku.  Where are you guys?  I know you managed to escape Kingdom Hearts, Riku, but what happened to you after that?  There appears to be another keyblade wielder or master around since worlds are being sealed pretty quickly.  If only I knew where Destiny Islands was.  Then I could see you, Kairi.  Sigh. " Slowly, hands reached from behind him...

Sora: "Yes, Blasphemy?" The figure stopped in mid-motion.

Sora: "You're tired and I can sense the darkness you're giving off.  A fight wouldn't really make sense, would it?"

Blasphemy: "Ahh, but I'm a bad guy, I'm not supposed to make sense."

Sora: "You're not bad, you just have your own reasons."

Blasphemy: "... Why is it that everyone and their grandmother can read my intentions?"

Sora: "Because your movements and speech don't imply fanaticism.  You're your own man, nobody else's.  Except maybe for your girlfriend."

Blasphemy: "Huh? ... How could you tell?"

Sora: "(Turns to him) It's just something I can feel in your heart."

Blasphemy: "... (Chuckles) At least you got one thing wrong.  She was my fiancé."

Sora: "Whoa, didn't expect that." Blasphemy sits on the edge of the bed, with Sora still on the windowsill.

Blasphemy: "I suppose I can trust you.  I've already told my one ally Lloyd.  Why I'm telling you all this is beyond me, you're a kid, and my supposed enemy.  Oh well.  I lived on a world called Earth.  I have a last name, it's Tegrarian, and if you say anything..."

Sora: "(Zips lip)"

Blasphemy: "I lived a rather normal life, in fact, I was bored of it.  I was in a good college, a good job, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah.  I had nothing though, no light, no love.  It sucked, to say the least.  Then I met her, my love.

  We met under less than perfect circumstances, in a fight of sorts.  I suppose it turned out like how that cousin of mine met his.  Anyway, we eventually just figured out that we could be friends, and it went on from there.  I decided, 'why the hell not?' and asked her to marry me. 

  She accepted.  I can't believe how happy I was, and life seemed perfect.  Of course, life hates me, so darkness came to the world.  I found a way of destroying it and saving my world, and used it.  With the last dying throes, it tried to use a curse on me.  My love took the attack for me and suddenly disappeared.

  I later found out that this was a curse to summon a being of ultimate power, literally.  This curse couldn't be undone by normal means, so there was no way to win.  I will not give up though!  I heard of a way to free people, even from a curse that's invincible."

Sora: "What's that?"

Blasphemy: "Either I destroy light and dark, leaving only God and me, and that grants me whatever I want, or I use Jafar to grant my wish."

Sora: "If you've already got your answer, why are you continuing with the darkness?"

Blasphemy: "I've got to keep an eye on that idiot cousin of mine.  Test him a bit."

Sora: "You have a cousin?"

Blasphemy: "Yeah.  Want to know his name?"

Sora: "Sure." Suddenly the scene switches due to a teleport and Sora is behind bars in a castle's prison, with Blasphemy standing outside.

Blasphemy: "Well, his name is"

Maioko: "I'm still curious Acronos, what's your last name?"

Acronos: "Well... (Looks to see if Dante is listening and whispers) Between you, my computer, and me my last name is... (Looks around again) Tegrarian."

Maioko: "'Tegrarian', eh?  Interesting, I like it.  Acronos Tegrarian."

Acronos: "Yeah, and you know what I found?  My last name is a compound of the words 'Terra' and 'Gaia', with an 'n' added in too."

Maioko: "Cool."

Dante: "C'mon lovebirds, you're slowing us down!"

Acronos: "Actually we're ahead of all of you, you're not in front, and Maioko and I are not in love.  Clear yet?"

Dante: "Uhh..."

Tifa: "He's got you there Dante."

Dante: "That's twice, today just isn't my day, is it?" Everyone shakes his or her head and continues.  They reach the place amid some gasps.

Acane: "The view here is incredible!  Look, the sun's going to set soon!"

Dante: "We'll camp out here for the time being.  I don't like the idea of taking on a house of Devils in the dark.  Last time I did that, I ended up in the Underworld."

Acronos: "Okay, I'll set up camp." Casting Haste, he rushed around, setting up tents and the bathhouse.

Dante: "Is he always like this?"

Auron: "Yes, Acronos has a tendency to move quickly and help others." He finished in a few minutes and looked around.  Maioko was on a tree branch, staring out at the sunset.  Acronos went and joined her.  He momentarily considered a joke about this getting to be a habit, but kept silent at the look of contemplation on Maioko's face. 

  They watched the sunset in peace, calmly.  The sunset felt a bit more foreboding than usual, but that was a bit obvious based on where they were.  After some time, Acronos figured he'd be better off starting to cook now. 

  A smile that was holding back a laugh crossed his face as he thought about the food with the other team.  Before jumping down, he looked at Maioko as if asking permission or something.  She was still focused on the same point; she probably hadn't even noticed he was alive.

Acronos: "Umm, if you ever want to chat, I'm always up for it." He jumped down after another moment or so and headed for Dante who was trying (Key word there is trying, failing miserably was the result) to make a campfire.  As he approached, he heard her.

Maioko: "Any time then." He smirked and figured if he wanted his own mysterious moments, he'd have to deal with hers.  After convincing Dante to give up the fire, (A few good whacks to the head), Acronos started to cook. 

  After a few moments of getting ticked with the whole 'outdoor cooking' thing, he snapped his fingers and pulled a grill out of his pocket dimension.  Dante gaped as Acronos began using the microwave on top and all kinds of things to make an excellent and healthy meal.  Acronos then pulled a table out and set it up. (Narrator: "A table and a grill, isn't that pushing it a bit?" Quiet, you).

Dante: "(Manages to stop gaping) Well, I propose a toast to the guy who made this meal possible.  The resident chef, Acronos!"

Acronos: "Ehehe, I'm not that good."

Maioko: "Ah but you are.  A toast to the guy who is singularly responsible for cooking, holding all our equipment, and single-handedly building the bath house!"

All others: "Yeah!" Acronos just rubbed the back of his head, not used to that many compliments.  Later on everyone went to bathe.  The guys had decided to brush their teeth and stuff first, and then got in.

Dante: "Ahh... This feels good... Maybe there's something to this 'relaxing' thing."

Acronos: "Yeah, I made it as warm and peaceful as I could. (Cue lots of sudden noise) huh?"

Auron: "It must be the girls having fun."

Dante: "Wanna check it out?"

Acronos: "No thanks!  I had enough experience with being on that side when I shouldn't have been, thank you."

Auron: "Ah yes, I remember that."

Dante: "Whoa, never pictured you as a peeping tom."

Acronos: "I am not!  It's a long story though."

Dante: "Well, you can either tell me it or I drag you both over there." Acronos hears a smacking of fist against stone and the stone giving out a bit, (Maioko having fun), and begins reciting his tale.

Acronos: "Don't tell me I left Sake in there or something?  Oh well, so, on a different world than this..." Right when he gets to the part about him trying to thrash his way out of Maioko's grip, Acane bursts through the door, Ifrit holding onto her, trying to make her stop.

Ifrit: "Ahh!  This is a bad idea, even to me!  (To the guys) Yes, when Acane looses her sanity, I gain mine.  Anyway, don't do it!"

Acane: "Aww C'mon, Hic, Ifrit, it'll be, Hic, fun!"

Acronos: "So I did leave that sake out there, oh boy."

Ifrit: "C'mon, help a Devil out, will 'ya?"

Dante: "'Devil'?  'Ifrit'?  You're the one whose gauntlets I used!"

Ifrit: "Oh, hey.  I knew I'd sensed you before." Acane breaks out of Ifrit's grasp and jumps towards Acronos.  His sharp reflexes gave him enough time to dodge.

Acronos: "Acane, you're drunk.  Please reconsider any and all actions you might take."

Acane: "Aww, you're no fun.  But you're still cute Auron." The two males look at each other with similar expressions of near-horror.

Acronos: "Wrong guy, I'm Acronos, remember?  The keyblade master?"

Acane: "Oh... Hic, sorry." From the position she was in, she basically back-flipped right over to Auron and glomped him.

Acane: "Hic, I did it, you guys!" All the girls walk in, obviously drunk.  Dante is nearly ecstatic until Auron whacks him upside the head.

Auron: "Tifa is taken already."

Dante: "Damn.  Oh well, there are probably more where she came from, I hope... I wonder if she has a sister... "

Acane: "Okay, Hic, now I get one of you."

Tifa: "Sure, who're you going to, Hic, dare?"

Acane: "Hic, Uhh... Maioko, Truth or Dare?"

Acronos: "(Eyes widen) I'm outta here!"

Dante: "Dude, you're only wearing a towel since you just finished your shower!" Acronos halts in mid-motion.

Maioko: "Hic, I'm drunk, so I'm not thinking straight.  Hic, dare." A chorus of appreciative noises resounded.

Acane: "Hmm, Hic..."

Dante: "Hey, let me give you an idea."

Acronos: "(Praying/pleading) Please stop this, I promise not to beat up Dante too much after this"

Acane: "I like that!"

Maioko: "Hic, what'd you come up with?"

Acane: "Hic, well, thanks to Dante, your dare is to "

Irvine: "What do you guys think Acronos' group is doing now?"

Tidus: "At this hour they're probably eating too."

Selphie: "I'm still surprised you two can cook so well." Tidus and Yuna blush a bit.

Tidus & Yuna: "We learned from our older counterparts."

Trish: "Let's get some sleep." They started towards their sleeping bags, but a bunch of Devils came out from nowhere and attacked.  Well, more like staggered over.  Trish pulled out her handguns and began firing, doing a little damage.  Irvine sauntered up.

Irvine: "The shotgun is definitely the best." He fired a powerful beam that disintegrated all the Devils.

Irvine: "There, do you see that?  Beat that, Dante!" And they all promptly went to sleep.

Dante: "Achoo!  Who was thinking of me?" Everyone looked at him, except for Acronos, who'd taken this chance to use what ninja skills he had to escape from the baths and jump into his tent to get changed and run away.  The moment he heard everyone looking for him, he also heard Maioko...

Maioko: "Hey, Hic, Acronos!  C'mon out, I've got to, Hic, French you." His eyes widened to looking like saucers. 

Acronos: "Devil infested manor on their rules, or Maioko.  Chance at underworld, or chance at getting French kissed.  (Hears Maioko nearby) Devil manor it is! " Using every bit of speed and skill he had, he made his way inside the manor. 

  Upon entering, he was greeted with a well-lit entrance hall.  There was a nice rug thrown out, the candles flickered warmly, there was glass on the ceiling that would look really nice in the morning, and it basically looked like someone still lived there.  Acronos examined the paintings on the walls: great art, several battle scenes, Devils at war, etc.

Acronos: "Maybe the proprietor merely wanted a place to stay? " The overall impression was of a cross between Hollow Bastion and the original place in Devil May Cry.  Acronos wandered over to a door with a large heartless emblem on it and tried to open it, only to find it locked. 

  He searched for an unlocked door and found a rather simple looking one.  He opened it to a dark hallway.  Looking around as best he could, he saw some unlit candles on the walls and used Fire to light them. 

  Finished with this, he created a large flame of his own, just in case, and wandered around a bit.  He kept getting the feeling he was being watched, and finally the feeling became overwhelming, along with a sudden surge in taint.  Slowly Acronos reached for his computer, tapped a few commands in, and suddenly overly loud rock music began to blare out of the speakers. 

  A bunch of heartless and Devils fell out of the shadows, only to meet with Acronos' blade.  He still felt like he was being watched.

Acronos: "Show yourself!"

  A large shadow slowly emerged, and one of its hands latched onto Acronos' face.  He was assaulted by thousands of images of his worst fears, all at once.  His brain, already tired from previous events, simply gave out and he passed out.  The shadow seemed to smirk and raised itself to attack, only to be blocked by Devil Acronos.

Devil Acronos: "Not bad Nightmare.  How'd you manage to survive the beating Dante gave you?" It retreated momentarily and Devil simply guided himself back to camp where the girls were being put into bed since they'd passed out.

Auron: "Help us out, will you?"

Dante: "I pity them in the morning."

Devil: "The kid knows a hangover cure.  Oh and Hunter?"

Dante: "I guess that means me.  Yeah? (Whack!) Oww!"

Devil: "You deserved that.  Oh, and I felt like adding this myself." Devil punched Dante's head where Acronos had just hit him, and then put each girl into their respective sleeping bag and tent.

Auron: "Let's get some sleep."  The next morning Acronos woke up early, as usual, and began making breakfast.  As he finished, a chorus of groans and pained noises greeted him.

Acronos: "Hangovers all around" Dante and Auron got out of their tents, fully dressed and hungry.  After they finished eating, the girls came out, holding their heads.

Auron: "I suppose this is the price you pay for drinking."

Tifa: "Ugh, shut up Auron.  Acronos, get me what I tell you, I know several hangover remedies."

Acronos: "I know one myself."

Tifa: "Right, just get me this stuff." She hands him a list.  He searched a while and finally brought them out.  Tifa mixed it all in a certain way and put it in several glasses.

Acronos: "(Looking incredulously at it) Tifa, I think you just invented a new color." She closed her nose and downed it.  She made a noise of disgust, but Acronos immediately sensed her energies balance out and her hangover leave.

Acronos: "What's in that stuff?"

Tifa: "You saw what I used.  The way it works is my personal secret."

Dante: "Tell me how to do that, I get drunk very often."

Tifa: "Nope, my secret."

Acronos: "I'll give you mine.  Dunk yourself in really cold water and stay there for ten seconds."

Dante: "Oh boy."

Maioko: "Gimme that." She downed it and looked really sick.

Tifa: "Uhh, yeah, sometimes this doesn't agree with the stomach." Maioko ran away and the sounds of vomiting were heard.  A collective cringe went around.  Later on, Maioko was still wandering around, feeling very sick and hung over.  Her wandering led her to finding Acronos.  He was just finishing up nearly freezing a large pool of water.

Acronos: "Ah, Maioko!  I was about to look for you.  You're still hung over, so you'll have to deal with my cure.  Jump in and stay there for ten seconds." She just jumped in from where she stood, and her senses were assaulted by the cold.  The effect was that of a punch to the face.  She immediately swam up to the surface, yelling.

Acronos: "You need to stay under for ten seconds!" She went under and quickly counted to ten and all but flew out!  She shivered, extremely cold.  Acronos draped a blanket over her.

Acronos: "Are you awake now?" Still shivering, she nodded.

Acronos: "Let's get you some warm clothes.  I'll make you some tea too." They went back to camp and Maioko got changed in her tent while Acronos quickly made some tea.  The moment she came out, she was greeted with a mug of hot tea.  She sipped it slowly.

Maioko: "Remind me not to get drunk again.  I don't want to go through your cure or Tifa's ever again."

Acronos: "Don't worry, I will.  Getting drunk really isn't healthy."

Dante: "Okay, let's go.  That manor awaits!" They wandered in and were met with the same entrance hall, but with more light present.

Acronos: "Didn't change since last night."

Dante: "So that's where you were hiding."

Maioko: "Huh?  Why would you need to hide, and in such a dangerous place?"

Acronos: "Three words: Truth or Dare.  Acane was daring you, and Dante was helping her... Oh yeah!" He jumped up and hit Dante again.  Maioko thought for a moment and blushed.

Maioko: "Umm, what was my dare?"

Auron: "Nothing that you managed to do before you passed out."

Dante: "Yeah, but"

Acronos: "If you say it, it's your fault, and could end up being very painful."

Dante: "Uhh, which door to take?"

Acronos: "That's the only one open.  We could try to break down the other ones, but that's a bit pointless with my ability to unlock anything, isn't it?"

Dante: "Let's take the open door first." They enter, and go down the hallway.  Dante stopped them at one point, saying he felt taint in the air.  A moment of waiting, and a giant lava spider/scorpion came up to them.

Dante: "You, again?  Don't you ever stay dead, Phantom?"

Acronos: "You just can't keep a good lava spider-scorpion-thing down."

Phantom: "Yeah, and this time, I can't loose!"

Auron: "Heartless influence? (Sees the symbol) As always." They all readied their weapons.

Dante: "Let me handle this.  I'm used to this sort of thing."

Kairi: "The heartless make it stronger, be careful." Dante shrugged and raised a sword.

Acronos: "Uhh dude, Alastor might have been a better choice for this mission."

Dante: "Hmm, I suppose, but I don't have that option, now do I?" They all heard the sound of a blade spinning and spinning.  Finally it stopped, in Dante's stomach!

Dante: "Ugh, hello Alastor." Alastor crackled with lightning energy. Dante pulled it out and sheathed the previous blade.  Everyone gaped at him.

Dante: "It's one of those Devil things." Phantom struck, sending it's stinger at Dante, but he blocked it, sending it away.  He then charged, using a lunge stab into Phantom's face. 

  Phantom stuck its head into the ground, and Acronos remembered what came next.  He used Aeroga to keep the magma pillars from killing them all.  He then ran in and lifted Phantom into the air.

Acronos: "Dante, wanna make a point?"

Dante: "You launch, I impale."

Phantom: "No, not again!" Phantom somehow exploded, damaging itself and Acronos.  It began using an attack like a flame-thrower from its front pincers to damage all of them.

Acronos: "Ugh, let's see how much fire you have in you.  Hit me with all you've got!" Phantom eagerly agreed and used a gigantic fireball on Acronos.  As it came at him, he smirked and raised his hand.  The fireball hit him, and stopped.  Upon looking closely, everyone was a bit surprised to see Acronos holding back the flaming ball of death at bay with one hand.

Acronos: "Are you sure this is the best you've got?  Might not even be able to Trigger off this."

Phantom: "What!  How can you be holding that back?  I've ripped through a mountain with that!"

Acronos: "Must have been weak rock." The flames were drained into his symbol.  He raised his keyblade above his head.  Energy slowly emerged from it, and dark energy wrapped around it, and the same type of shadowy energy created a sphere around Acronos.  A moment, and the keyblade cut through the orb, shattering it into bats that flew away.  Devil Acronos stood there, in all his power.

(D) Acronos: "Too flashy.  I need to shorten it."

Dante: "Try like mine." An arcane symbol flew out from Dante in several planes, leaving him glowing with lightning energy.

(D) Acronos: "I like it."

Phantom: "Uhh..." Between Dante's speed and Acronos' balanced power, Phantom stood no chance.  It started to crawl into the earth and escape, but Acronos wasn't going to let that happen.  He grabbed Phantom's tail and pulled it back out.  Dante ran in and impaled Phantom through the gut and kept the blade in there.  With it's last breath, it struggled out and managed to break Alastor, shocking everyone.  Finally it died, and a spirit rose out of the blade and formed itself into a spiky, blue, winged Devil.

Alastor: "Hello all.  I'm Alastor."

Dante: "So you're the spirit of the blade."

Alastor: "Yes, Hunter.  I'm getting out of here now.  You can have the abilities you gained with me."

(D) Acronos: "Hey, Alastor!  I can't believe it, it's been a couple thousand years and you barely look any older!"

Alastor: "(Eyes widen) You!  Heir of Thanatos, how are you still alive, and how are you still young?"

(D) Acronos: "Long story."

Alastor: "Either way, I'm out of here."

(D) Acronos: "Right, see you."

Dante: "But now I don't have a sword!"

Alastor: "Just use the one you had before.  Besides, there is a sword for you around here somewhere.  With that, I take my leave."

Acane: "Do you know Ifrit?"

Alastor: "The only one to create a weapon of his own spirit while still alive?  Yeah, he's the reason hell has fire."

Ifrit: "Alastor!  Great to see you again!  I get to burn you again, isn't this great?"

Alastor: "AHH!!!  NOT YOU AGAIN!" The spirit of Alastor then left.  Ifrit shrugged and they all continued on their way.  They walked through the hall until they reached another door.

Dante: "Now where's this gonna lead us?" Entering, they were in a long, dark passageway, with a light in the distance.  Forward they went, onward and onward, and they finally emerged, into a graveyard.  A few tombstones came to life and attacked, with a few zombies and other appropriate Devils attacking.  Maioko took care of the tombstones since her punches did more damage than the blades, and Acronos Devil Triggered again, this time in a simple flash of black fire and red lightning, and proceeded to all but lay siege to anything in his path.

(D) Acronos: "(Leans against a mausoleum with arms crossed) Now what?"

Maioko: "Whoa."

Acane: "Huh?"

Maioko: "You know, with the moon out, Acronos being in Devil state, and the remains of enemies at his feet, this would make a really good picture."

(D) Acronos: "If you want, get a camera and take a picture, it'll last longer."

Maioko: "I'll do better." She uses Stop on him and pulls a sketchbook out of nowhere.  Taking only a minute or so, she draws him pretty well.

Dante: "When did it get to be night anyway?"

Kairi: "Who knows?  Maybe it's just someone wanting to make a joke?"

Acane: "With the way the Underworld works, I wouldn't be surprised."

(D) Acronos: "(As well as possible without moving) I resent that."

Maioko: "Well you're not in much of a position to resent anything.  Now hold still!" A rather large heartless rose from the graveyard, a giant skeleton.  More bones formed wings, and dirt wrapped around it to replace flesh.

Kairi: "Yuck!  I hate skeletons!"

(D) Acronos: "May I please go and kill the thing?"

Maioko: "Nope, this is a good scene."

(D) Acronos: "Sorry guys, I can't fight."

Dante: "Not a problem." They charge the thing and begin hacking away at it, and Maioko only looks up when Auron is flung at her, making her need to dodge.

Maioko: "Hmm, I think the details are about right.  Let's go!" Acronos is released from Stop and charges.  He flies around, hacking and slashing away at it.  Dante Triggers again and beats away at it.  After much destroying, the thing succumbed and died, leaving Acronos to drain its heart.

Tifa: "Now what?" Acronos shifted back.

Acronos: "Umm, according to my map, there's a way out nearby.  I think I see it, follow me!" They all ran after him, and descended into a grave, which led them to a confined room.

Auron: "Another boss?"

Blasphemy: "Hello.  There's no boss in this room, I merely wished to inform you of something."

Acronos: "Yeah?"

Blasphemy: "The current proprietor of this estate is human, and merely wishes to acquire more and more power and not be corrupted by it.  He has a bit of a twisted sense of humor, so you might want to watch for that.  Oh, and you might want to destroy the Devils anyway, he's getting to be dangerous."

Dante: "By any chance, did you hire us?"

Blasphemy: "No.  I don't know who did, but they'll probably be paying you soon." With that he bowed and left via a dark portal.  Continuing on their way, they paused only a moment to retrieve a rusted key.  Acronos shrugged at it, and they continued until they were quite simply dropped back into the entrance hall.  Dante shrugged and shook it off.  He tested all the doors, and finally found one that the key fit into.  They went down this route.  It led to a series of twisting and turning passageways that seemed to go on forever.

Auron: "Hmm… Acronos, you have this place already mapped out, I'm guessing?"

Acronos: "Yeah, what of it?"

Auron: "Let me see the map."

Acane: "We're doomed!  Doomed to wander through these halls for eternity and a day, waiting only for our inevitable deaths.  Why, oh why couldn't I have led a normal life?"

Kairi: "You'd have hated a normal life, you love adventure."

Acane: "Oh yeah, forgot about that."

Ifrit: "Why don't we just burn our way through?"

Auron: "Because I already have a very short route made out.  Follow me."  This led to a room filled with fast-moving puzzles.

Maioko: "Is it just me, or?"

Acronos: "Are these places being set up for each of us in our own ways?  Yeah, I think so too."

Maioko: "How'd you"

Acronos: "Finish your sentence?  Habit, and I know you well enough." Maioko looked on and shrugged.

Acane: "Well, this is my kind of place!" She uses her high speeds to run around, solving the puzzles that would have killed most others, (did I forget to mention that 'puzzles' implies spiky deathtraps?), and the door opened.  They all stepped through, and fell back into the entrance hall.

Acronos: "Okay, my turn." He used his keyblade's powers to open each door.

Maioko: "I think each of these is set to a certain group.  We know that door's for Auron and Acane, that door seems more towards Tifa and Kairi's style, but what of the others?"

Dante: "I can sense a ton of taint down this door, I've got this one."

Acronos: "Well, there are still two doors left.  I suppose we'll separate and take them both on?"

Maioko: "Sure, I guess that's a good idea. I hope"

Acronos: "Hmm, I think I'll take this door, the emblem sorta corresponds to my symbol."

Maioko: "This one, I don't see why it would suit me.  It's got a picture of two swords drawn."

Acronos: "Actually, those are short Japanese swords, I think the term is 'kodachi'.  If my guess is correct, those would be your preferred weapons?"

Maioko: "Yeah, but I still use my fists more." They nodded and entered their respective doors.  Auron and Acane solved their puzzles in a similar manner, except for the fact that the maze was larger and unmapped, and the puzzles involved working together.  The graveyard for Kairi and Tifa had two bone giants, with plenty of smaller enemies.  Kairi focused on the smaller ones, while Tifa worked on taking out the giants.  Dante only walked a few feet and he met with a hole in the ground, the portal to the underworld.

Dante: "Not again." He jumped down and went forward a bit.  He came upon the room where he'd faced Nightmare the last time.  From the center, the shadow that Acronos had encountered rose up.

Dante: "Nightmare, I presume?  Back for revenge?" It simply attacked him with its shadowy tendrils.  Dante blocked and tried to counter, only to find that Nightmare didn't have a physical body, or any cores to exploit.  He looked for some way out of this, and found that the symbols that lit up the place were still there.  Dodging another tendril, he ran up to the symbol and did a quick round of attacks.  All it did to Nightmare was to dissipate the shadows just a bit, but that was enough to show the core in its middle that was sort of its heart.

Dante: "Ah, same as before then." He ran in, blocked off an attack, and slashed Nightmare's core.  The battle continued like this for a long while until the light went out again, and Nightmare engulfed Dante.  Inside the strange dimension he always ended up in, he faced down a copy of the Dark Knight from his first game, which was difficult but not impossible.  He ripped through Nightmare again, doing serious damage.  However, it engulfed him once more.  He faced down Griffon with relative ease and waited for the usual light to send him out.  There was none, and instead, another Devil from his second game, a knight with a spear, came at him. 

  After expending some energy to beat him, Dante waited for the light again.  Nothing except for the final boss of his second game, which took a long time to beat, but not much energy.  Finished with that, the final boss of his first game, Mundus, came down in his second form.  Dante Triggered and began hacking away at him.  After beating down that fear, simpler fears in the form of images began assaulting him. 

  Finally he'd had enough and using all his strength of will, ripped out of the nightmare he was having, and ripped out of the Nightmare he was facing, doing severe damage, worse than before.  Nightmare exposed its true core, trying to heal itself.  No such luck since Dante hacked away at it with a newfound vigor.  Nightmare finally died and Dante went onwards.  He went through the door on the other end, and was dropped into the entrance hall.

  With Acronos, he simply walked on and on.  The thing was, with each step and new horrible image plastered itself across the walls.  Of Maioko dying, him killing everyone, death in general, scenes showing him as too weak to help anyone, etc.  Acronos just kept on walking, focusing on each and every step, basically meditating on each physical movement simply to escape his mind. 

  He just kept on walking until he walked into a wall.  He looked at it to see a simple mirror.  He looked at it, turned, found no other direction to go, and looked at the mirror again.  The mirror seemed to make every slight imperfection stand out as much as possible.  Acronos just raised an eyebrow, he was his own harshest critic, and this seemed nice compared to how he berated himself sometimes.  As that thought crossed his mind, the mirror broke.  He smirked and walked forward, into a scene of chaos and destruction.  A village was burning, people strewn onto the floor, bleeding and dying slowly. 

  In the distance, Acronos heard the sounds of a battle finishing up.  He ran as fast as he could to where it was coming from, only to find one of the worst scenes he'd ever seen.  To see something like this on a screen was bad enough, but to live it?  Acronos saw the bodies of his friends strewn across the ground, some decapitated, and some impaled, but each no longer having a heart.  He looked at the source of this, hoping to find solace in this person's death, but saw himself fighting with Maioko.  She was using two kodachi, putting her all into the fight.  The other Acronos was weaving and dodging through her attacks, laughing the whole time.  Finally he got bored and flicked the weapons from her hands.  She tried to punch him with the last of her strength, but was blocked.  The thing was, the Acronos there just kept smirking, laughing evilly.  He flung Maioko to the ground, and pulled her back up by her hair.

(Evil) Acronos: "Pathetic.  You never stood a chance against me, and you never will."

Maioko: "Why?"

(E) Acronos: "As if you don't know.  All this power, and not being able to use it any way I want?  No way in Hell!  I'm going to do what I want, when I want, and none of you are going to stop me, especially not you." He raised his blade in the manner of a decapitation, and this was enough to get Acronos out of his horror-induced shock.  He was over there at a speed that he shouldn't have been capable of, and gave his evil copy the strongest punch to the stomach he'd seen in a while.  The copy staggered back and…

(E) Acronos: "Do you think me a copy?  You really shouldn't fight a part of yourself to the death, weakling, it's not healthy."

Acronos: "I can't let you get away with this."

(E) Acronos: "Get away with what?  I've already won!"

Acronos: "Well what have you gained out of this?"

(E) Acronos: "Freedom, you fool!  I am free of all boundaries, free of the bindings that held me to my duty, free!"

Acronos: "For a part of me, you sure are stupid.  I chose the path of justice, which only gave me a goal, balance, and less power than dark or light.  I am free, I chose sealing worlds and helping people out of my own free will.  I want to help others; it's what I do.  I am already free and I already do what I want to, when I want to."

(E) Acronos: "You also have tasted the purity of freedom, but it seems you misunderstand the point of it.  As the literal embodiment of chaos, I shall have to make this clear to you."

Acronos: "Chaos?"

(E) Acronos: "Yes, the almighty chaos.  The random choice from which all things begin!  The power, the element outside of life!  The strength beyond existence!  Face its wrath!" The battle began.  Evil Acronos, (I think I'll just say them as their element) circled around justice, strafing, waiting for the moment to strike.  Justice also strafed, prepared to attack as well.  Chaos started it off, yelling out "Sonic Blade!" and using the same version as justice's.  Justice, knowing where the strikes would be coming from, managed to block and dodge enough to avoid damage.  Chaos used it again, but stopped in the middle of a lunge and turned it into Strike Raid.  Justice blocked these strikes, and used Sonic Blade himself.  Chaos blocked and dodged, jumping into the air and coming down with a downward slash that forced justice to stop the attack and block.  The two locked their blades and each tried to outdo the other.

Chaos: "I have the advantage in this situation, I never loose energy.  All things lead to chaos, so I never run out of power."

Justice: "Crap" Justice broke the grip and launched into Ars Arcanum.  Chaos blocked each strike enough to keep the attack away, but not enough to test his strength.  Chaos launched into the same attack, and Justice blocked it in the same manner.  Chaos started up Grand Finale.

Chaos: "Prepare to die!" Justice readied himself for it, but decided to Devil Trigger.  Chaos launched the immense power of the attack without mercy.  Devil simply decided on the simplest course of action, get out of there.  He teleported to Hollow Bastion, waited for a few moments, and dark teleported back to find the area blown into the ground and Chaos panting.  Devil went to him calmly.

Devil: "That's the trouble with doing Grand Finale at this level, even with infinite mp you still can't move for a while." With utmost calm, Devil raised his keyblade and chopped down upon Chaos' head, ending his life.  Going back to his regular form, Acronos looked around for Maioko, and sensed her beneath some rubble.

Acronos: "The Maioko here is most likely an illusion and probably a trap, but I couldn't live with myself if I didn't help her. " He ran over and started on hefting the large board off her.  After doing that he pulled her out and checked for a pulse.  Finding one, he cast Curaga on her.  Her eyes fluttered open and Acronos gave her a quick look-over.  Determining where the injuries were, he pulled out some gauze and other such things and began wrapping her injuries and sensing for the keyhole.  She looked at him slowly and asked.

Maioko: "Why?  Why are you still helping everyone?  Everyone hates you and would prefer you dead.  Why would you help us still?"

Acronos: "(Wrapping leg) ... I can't do anything else.  There's nothing else I can do for everyone but to help them."

Maioko: "But why do you want to help?  Why are you helping?"

Acronos: "I help people... Because, well, I don't know.  I just want to help everybody, to aid, to defend, to save the worlds.  There's just something in me that drives me on. 

  Perhaps it's in the fact that I saved a life, perhaps it is that I am vain and have decided that unless I aid people I will go insane, like that version you saw.  I don't know why I always want to help people, but there's something inside me that would rip me apart if I didn't.  It's... Who I am."

Maioko: "I'm glad... That you, at least... Know who you are... But... do you know who I am?"

Acronos: "Maioko.  You are yourself, and I'm not supposed to be the one to know that.  I'm here to help you find yourself.  That's also who I am.  Now, let's find this out, together."

Maioko: "Yes, you should help the real one.  You know I'm just an illusion created to test you.  Why didn't you just pass on?"

Acronos: "Didn't I tell you?  It's who I am, it's what I do."

Maioko: "Right.  Well, take care of the real one.  Keep her close, treasures are often lost if not looked after." With that, the scene dispersed and Acronos was dropped unceremoniously back into the entrance hall.

With Maioko, she was making her way through a field, very calm, very peaceful.  Obviously she was uncertain of what was going on, since a Devil test is never calm or peaceful.  After a few minutes of walking, a door came up in front of her, and it led back to the entrance hall, or so it seemed.

Maioko: "What was up with that test?  Why would there even be a door for me if nothing were behind it?  Perhaps it's to show that you should have stayed with Acronos, that you're nothing without him?  Oh great, you again.  Look, for the last time, "

Acronos: "Hey Maioko, what's up?"

Maioko: "My test wasn't even a test, just walking through a field."

Acronos: "Let's go check it out again, maybe something else turned up?" They entered through the door into the field again, the door disappearing behind them

Maioko: "Hey, it didn't do that before?"

Acronos: "It's probably the test starting up.  You happy to have me along, or am I slowing you down?"

Maioko: "I don't usually need help, but I'm always happy to have you around, Acronos."

Acronos: "Thanks." They strolled down the field further and further, and it started to become darker, the sky tinged crimson.

Maioko: "(Musing) It looks like rain." Acronos handed her a cloak.

Acronos: "You're right, I can smell the humidity, the moisture in the air, and it's saturated." They continued onwards, and it became pitch black in a few moments.  Acronos lit a floating flame to guide them and they walked on in silence.

Maioko: "Hmm, that's odd.  Usually he's not this quiet, something must be troubling him. You okay?"

Acronos: "(Smiles) I'm fine.  Thanks for asking." They kept walking in silence until Acronos started up a bit of conversation.

Acronos: "Umm, you might want to put on your cloak, I think the rain will start soon. (Maioko places her cloak on) Hey, what's your standing on emotions?"

Maioko: "Huh?  Where'd that come from? Well that depends, what emotions do you mean?"

Acronos: "Well, love.  I'm curious about your opinion on this."

Maioko: "Odd topic well, there isn't that much to say, I suppose.  Love is a feeling that people get.  I suppose love is a good thing, but who knows?  I'd like to be able to fall in love with someone who loves me, you know, soul mates or whatever? (Blushes) A bit old fashioned, but I can't help it."

Acronos: "Wow.  Well, what do you think about, umm, falling in love with someone?"

Maioko: "This is getting stranger and stranger.  You're being as dense as he usually is.  Why do you say... Oh.  He either loves me and wants to admit it.  Or he loves someone else and wants your advice since you're his best friend.  Well, I hope it's the second.  Do you now?  Either way, if you act now, you might still be able to get him.  Shut up well, if you fall in love, there are two options open.  Either you force yourself to stop loving, or you should tell the person how you feel. Whoa, what am I saying? "

Acronos: "Hmm, yes.  Yes, that's what a person in love must do.  You might want to pull your hood up, it'll rain in a few seconds." Maioko pulled on her hood and tightened her cloak around her.  The rain suddenly began to pour down.  She looked up at the sky for a moment, and then at Acronos.  He stood without his hood, eyes closed, looking up at the sky with a smile on his face as the rain fell onto him.  Opening his eyes, he turned to Maioko.  The rain around them seemed to slow, and it was as if there was more light on them than the whole world.

Acronos: "Maioko, I love- (Is cut off by a scythe blade protruding from his stomach)" Acronos stared, wide-eyed, in fascinated horror at the blade coming out of his stomach.

Acronos: "But, my darkness should-" The blade ripped out and Acronos' darker sidestepped out from behind him.

Dark: "Without me, you're finished."

Acronos: "So... This is what it feels like to die then?  I'm sorry Maioko, but even through all this, I still love-" His head stopped being on his shoulders and it slowly rolled towards her.  Maioko's eyes widened in terror as the head rolled towards her.  Acronos' dark side put a foot on it triumphantly, and said with a smirk.

Dark: "Glad that's over.  Well, I believe it's time for you to join him." The blade swung at her, and she stood in place.  At the last possible moment, her hand came up, the steel on it blocking the attack.

Maioko: "Why?  Why would you kill yourself?"

Dark: "That waste of space?  He's not me.  I simply needed the body for a while until I could do what I wanted.  When that was completed, I needed to get rid of that guy, he was too annoying.  What with his stupid politeness, honor, kindness, laughing all the time, and even falling in love!  He disgusts me even as a corpse." Maioko felt her rage boiling up within her, reaching for her mind.  She walked over to Acronos' body.

Maioko: "It's wrong to rob the dead, but I don't think Acronos will mind if I use his knife!" Her charge was rage-induced, and partially blinded.  Mid-motion she stopped, flipped, and did the downward slash to send Dark flying.

Dark: "Come on, don't you remember that I can heal, and that I'm stronger than you?" He slowly made his way towards her.  Energy blasts had no effect; they were easily blocked, or simply did no damage.  Magic was worthless against the Reflect spell set in place, and Maioko didn't want to get too close.  She kept backing up, trying to keep away and destroy the Dark form. 

  Truth was, she was scared of it.  Though it looked exactly like Acronos, when Acronos puts his mind to it, he can be scary.  The dark side had an insane glint in his eyes, and power seemed to radiate off every pore in his body.  The storm picking up, lightning flashing terribly in the background didn't help much either.

Maioko: "No, I won't fear.  I mustn't fear.  I will defeat this like I've defeated everything else in my path.  This is a dark side, of the darkness.  Use Holy magic against him for serious damage, and watch out for the techniques he can use.  You're being helpful?  Thanks then." Calling upon some magical energy, she used a blast of holy energy to damage the dark side, and continued with it, adding in a bunch of techniques and spells while she could.

Dark: "Is this the best you've got?  I've seen shadows with more kick to them!"

Maioko: "You should know, you're only Acronos' shadow!"

Dark: "Ah, but what if the shadow conquers the master, what then?  Oh, and do you have any last words, you're up against a wall." Maioko looked behind her to see that she was indeed backed into a wall.  Thinking desperately, her mind came across something.  Shadows get stronger the closer their source gets to light.  When there is no source, shadows are burnt away by light. 

  The only light in the area was Acronos' old flame, still flickering a bit.  Flame gives light, a purifying flame?  Phoenix!  The aforementioned immortal bird flew down from the clouds in a blaze of glory.  Dark was shocked.

Maioko: "Forgot I had that, didn't you?  Phoenix, Purifying Light!" Phoenix spread its wings, allowing the full force of the sun to escape from them directly onto Acronos' dark side.  He screamed in pain and began to burn in vile black flames.  The writhing stopped and Dark stood up, completely calm.

Dark: "It isn't my time yet.  Your power shall not defeat me.  Be gone!" Dark unleashed Ars Arcanum on Maioko before she could call back Phoenix, and destroyed the summon with the frigid power of death.  Maioko lay on the ground in shock; she'd just been winning!

Dark: "I am like Acronos, we are both immortal in our strategic ability.  You cannot conquer either of us." He took a step forward and leveled the keyblade-scythe at her throat.  Her eyes widened, was she going to die?

Dark: "No, you're not worth it.  You will need to become far stronger if you plan on staying near Acronos with me still alive." Maioko stared up at him, shocked even more.  As he walked away from her, pulling up his cloak and hood, her rage began to build up again.  She raised herself up.

Maioko: "For a part of Acronos, you're pretty stupid to walk away from a threat!"

Dark: "You're not a threat.  You never were." Had Maioko been thinking regularly, this statement would have rung through her mind, rooting her in place.  However, she wasn't in a normal mode, her rage was taking over.  All the weapon styles she'd learnt, all her teachers, her memories, this one had beaten and broken all of them.  She would not allow that! 

  Roaring like some insane beast, she charged again.  Dark turned languidly, knowledge of her not being a threat echoing in his smirk.  Somewhere behind Maioko's berserk mindset, her rational mind noted this and figured that even the power from the battle madness wouldn't help out much.  So it did the only thing pure strategy and logic could do to gain an advantage, it called on any and all strength and power in the area. 

  Unfortunately, every single bit of it was darkness.  For a brief moment, Maioko seemed to radiate dark powers, to have the same evil glint as Dark Acronos.  Only for a moment, though, as she stopped being visible the next.  Dark Acronos was surprised, and even more so when he felt two hands placed in the center of his back.

Maioko: "Weak." The resulting energy blast left a mushroom cloud in its wake, with the base being on fire.  Maioko walked out of there with her head cast down and her clothes a bit ripped.  She looked up and gave a glare at thin air.  A door appeared, this time the real one.  She walked into the entrance hall without the knife that had broken in the blast (Note that she walked instead of fell.  With what happened, I think she just scared the owner).  Everyone fell in at the exact same time as she walked in.

Dante:  "Damn, (Rubbing head) why do you get to walk?"

Acronos: "(Looks at her, says softly) Are you alright?"

Maioko: "(With a big Fake smile) Of course, that test was way too easy!"

Acronos: "(Looks on with concern for a moment, turns away) If you say so."

Acane: "So guys, what was your test?" Dante began his in gory detail, while silence was all that greeted her statement from Acronos and Maioko.

Acronos: "... Let's take the stairs that just appeared." He slowly walked to them, but found nobody listening.  He raised an eyebrow and took a seat against a lamp.  Maioko took another lamp.

Acronos: "What happened to her, I wonder? "

Maioko: "That was too much.  I think I'm going to be dispirited for a while. " She saw Acronos trying to settle an argument between Acane and Dante on the amount of kills he'd racked up, and noticed that his trench coat was ripped and torn, and several wounds were still bleeding.

Maioko: "What was his test?  He looks like he just went through a version of hell.  As did you, and yet he manages to keep smiling and helping.  He'll hurt himself if he keeps on ignoring himself to help others.  You should help him.  I can't right now, I just saw his head roll towards me, and I had to face his dark side.  I-it's too much right now.  Okay, you have your limits. "

  After a while, Kairi took note of Acronos' wounds and started to try and heal him, despite his protests.  Acane offered her services and got Ifrit to chase Acronos around, trying to hold him in place for Kairi.  Maioko let a half-smile cross her face as he ran away, trying to escape.  When Ifrit tackled him to the ground, and Acronos yelled that he was being burnt, Maioko smiled fully, chuckling a bit.  When Kairi finally cured him and asked if that was so bad and Acronos answered that between having a few cuts, and being burnt and chased around and being cured, that he'd have chosen the first option, Maioko laughed out loud.

Maioko: "(Laughing) Oh boy, you just can't stay sad around here, can you?  Haha, let's go!" As they went up the stairs, Acronos smiled secretly to himself, he'd been aiming to raise everyone's spirits with that, and it had worked better than he'd hoped.

Acronos: "Yikes, wait up guys!"

Back with Trish and co.

Tidus: "Exactly where are we going?"

Trish: "To find the artifact, where else?"

Wakka: "This place is like a maze, ya?"

Irvine: "Hmm, what to do, what to do?"

Trish: "Well, it has to be at the ending of this maze, doesn't it?"

Tidus: "Well yeah, but how to get past a maze we know nothing about?"

Irvine: "Hmm, if I remember my symbols correctly, that stuff outside was stuff I knew... Give me a second, guys."

Wakka: "(Ignoring him) There's almost no way to get through this!"

Lulu: "Actually I'm inclined to agree.  This is almost a living maze, it reacts to anything we do, and seems not to want to do anything but send us back to the entrance!" Irvine came back, walking languidly.  He walked to the nearest wall, stroked it with his pinky, knocked three times, and said something in a strange language.  A direct route opened up to the center, shutting everyone up.

Yuna: "Ah, I thought I recognized those symbols.  Irvine, I didn't know you could read Ancient Manna."

Lulu: "Pardon?"

Irvine: "The Manna were an ancient civilization that were the first to travel to different worlds.  In doing so, they discovered the fundamental knowledge of life, light, darkness, death, etc. 

  They left a bunch of relics around as tools to teach people what they knew.  Of course, they knew that you can't exactly teach an idiot the secrets of the universe, so they scattered the artifacts and made challenges to test them.  Of course none are to the death, but they're still hard. 

  If memory serves, a few of these artifacts actually have control over elements and powers, so they're guarded pretty well.  I kinda heard it in a bedtime story and decided to study it.  White mages almost always learn a bit about it, so that's where you knew it from, right Yuna?"

Yuna: "Yes."

Lulu: "(Wide eyed) Irvine, you knew more than us?"

Irvine: "Well yeah!  I'm actually pretty smart, but I scare people if I act it, so I use my regular attitude." They went to the center and found a gaping hole.

Lulu: "Any ideas about this one, genius?"

Selphie: "Hey, don't insult my Irvine just because he knew something you didn't!"

Irvine: "Thanks Selphie."

Lulu: "Oh, sorry.  I'm not used to being outdone.  Just give me a while to get used to the idea of you being smart, your personality worked too well."

Irvine: "No problem!  Just think of me normally, but don't be surprised if I say something smart."

Trish: "Okay, but what exactly do we do now?"

Yuna: "There are some inscriptions.  I think they say to jump down."

Tidus: "Well, that's what we do then."

Lulu: "Isn't that just a tad dangerous, Yuna?"

Irvine: "Remember, nothing here should be able to kill you.  If anything, there should be a soft landing."

Trish: "I'll go down first." She jumps and a faint thud and muffled curses are heard.

Trish: "It's soft, but not exactly comfy!"

Tidus: "Here goes nothing!" He jumped down and landed without a need for cursing.  Everyone else followed.

Tidus: "Trish, I think you're the only one who missed the bouncy covering."

Trish: "Shut up Tidus." He laughed at this, and helped Yuna down.

Trish: "You amaze me.  I don't think I've ever seen somebody act like a jerk and a gentleman at the same time!"

Irvine: "Hey people, we're not done yet."

Yuna: "According to what's written here, we have quite a ways to go."

Trish: "Yeah, and I can feel taint in the air.  We should be careful." They went forward a ways, and came across a large body of water.

Lulu: "No other way but to cross."

Irvine: "There's probably something underwater too." They all jumped in, (How do you not know how to swim if you live on an island?), and swam out.  Trish and Tidus dived under, checking to see if there was anything around.  At about mid-way, Trish stopped.

Trish: "The taint is back.  Prepare yourselves."  They got ready as best they could, and waited.  Tidus was dragged underwater; he looked down to see a humanoid thing with webbed hands and feet, claws, and a fin of sorts on its head.  He slashed his blade down on the head a few times, killing it.  He rose to find several of his companions in similar situations. 

  Taking a quick count, he didn't see Yuna.  He dived under again and saw her close to the bottom, whacking the thing in an attempt to loosen the grip.  He swam as fast as he could go, and finally decided a lightning spell might do it.  Making sure to set it not to shock anything but the target, he launched it.

  The spell didn't kill it, but stopped its motion.  Yuna hit it again, escaping, and Tidus cut through its head.  By now, Yuna was struggling since she couldn't hold her breath as long.  Tidus grabbed her and swam at full speed to the surface.  She surfaced, gasping and sputtering. 

Yuna: "Thank, cough, you.  I might not have made it, cough!" Tidus patted her on the back caringly and went back down, destroying anything that came close.  Trish and Wakka were already down there, blasting and hacking away.  He joined, and they were occasionally aided by Irvine, who launched various super-powered shots down.  After a few minutes the place had been cleared of any and all Devils.  The three of them surfaced.

Wakka: "Phew, that was tough, ya?"

Tidus: "Is it just me, or does every type of enemy we face have the swarm mentality?"

Trish: "Strength in numbers, good plan, except that we have high numbers too."

Tidus: "Aren't we ever going to encounter an enemy that's really strong and fights on its own?"

Wakka: "You just jinxed it!  Now we'll actually have to fight something like that."

Tidus: "Good."

Trish: "Remind me never to give you a gun, you're probably trigger-happy." Anyway, the lake/pond/whatever it was, ended soon after that and they got out and went forward for a while.  They came upon a very large and ornate door.  Irvine and Yuna went up and read the carvings.  After a moment, they got it.  A deep rumbling noise greeted them.

Lulu: "You know Tidus, you really should have been more careful what you wished for."

Selphie: "I think this one might be a bit bigger."

Tidus: "(Draws sword) Yes!"

Trish: "Here it comes!"

Dante: "So, where are we again?"

Acane: "Inside this huge manor, idiot!"

Dante: "No, I meant where in the manor, oh small one of even smaller brain power."

Acronos: "Umm, we're in the second set of rooms.  We have to go forward from here for a while, and then we'll get to a large circular room, most likely a boss fight arena, and then further still the place branches off into two possible routes."

Maioko: "I suppose getting lost isn't going to be easy, is it?  We most likely will anyway."

Acane: "Hey, no need to be a pessimist!"

Auron: "I hate to interrupt you two, but we have some rather pressing matters to attend to."

Acane: "Like?"

Dante: "Like the horde of Devils currently closing in on us!"

Acronos: "(Throws a dart laced with energy for the same effect as a grenade behind them) They're behind us too!"

Tifa: "Well, this might actually be a challenge."

Kairi: "Yes it will be, I can't summon in this small hallway!"

Acronos: "Damn, they have the advantage since we can't move around as much!  Then again, neither can they."

Ifrit: "This might actually be bad."

Acane: "You're thinking logically?"

Ifrit: "Well of course, I'm always logical.  With so many in the way, it might take a while to burn them all, and I don't even want to think of the ash!"

Acronos: "Don't you have some kind of supreme fire attack, or something?!"

Ifrit: "I think so.  Was it Hellfire, or Flames of Hell?"

Maioko: "(Slowly being overwhelmed) WHO CARES?!  JUST USE IT!!!"

Ifrit: "Okay, okay!  All of you, BURN!!" Ifrit summoned all his power, with focal points on his arms, heart, and mouth.  First, he jumped into the air, making his friends disappear, and punched the ground, making an enormous explosion of flames and cracking the ground so you could see Hell beneath.  After this, he summoned a cylinder of fire to spin like a drill and destroy in the manner of a tornado. 

  Ifrit opened his mouth as large as it would go, and flames began combining into a giant fireball in front of it.  While he was charging, the tornado spun on, and flaming meteors began appearing above.  He launched his giant fireball when it was about five times his size in diameter, and the meteors fell at the same time.  The enemies were encased in a flaming orb. 

  Ifrit put his hands in front of his chest and summoned an orb of the purest hellfire.  From it he launched a flamethrower that held the enemies in the air.  He flung them into the ceiling and then swung them back to the earth and kept burning them there.  He stopped only long enough to fling fireballs from his hands, making explosions.  Finally he raised all the focal points up and smashed them down on the enemy, making a mushroom cloud of raw fire.  The fire attack from Hell finished, Ifrit made his friends appear again from being under Stop in limbo.  Ifrit stood there, panting, his arms still on fire, and the focal points quite visible.

Acronos: "(Sees a large amount of ash) Great job Ifrit!" Ifrit, a bit zoned out on the fire, yelled and turned to Acronos and burnt him with a flamethrower.

Acronos: "(Charred, coughs out smoke cloud) Yeah." Ifrit burnt him again.  Acronos coughed out another smoke cloud and kept quiet.

Maioko: "That'll do Ifrit, that'll do." She was burnt as well.  However, this is Maioko Ifrit just burnt, and not the overly polite Acronos, so she punched him into next week for that, or at least through the nearest wall.  Ifrit pulled his head out of the wall, smiling crazily.

Ifrit: "How was that?"

Acronos: "Cough, very good.  Just, try not to burn us next time."

Ifrit: "Aww!"

Dante: "Why exactly didn't I have that amazing attack while in Devil Trigger?"

Ifrit: "''Cos you never asked for it." Dante sweat-drops and they continue on their way.  On their way Maioko edged close to Acronos, wanting to talk.  Right as she opens her mouth to say something important, Acronos readied his keyblade.

Acronos: "There's taint in the air." Ifrit blasts him with a flamethrower.

Ifrit: "Idiot!  You don't interrupt people!"

Maioko: "Burning people isn't nice either."

Acronos: "Who'd I interrupt?"

Ifrit: "Maioko."

Acronos: "Oh, (turns to her and bows) I'm sorry."

Maioko: "Nah, it's okay.  Anyway, I was going to say-"

Acane: "Guys, Acronos was right!  Help out!" Acronos immediately lunged into battle.  Maioko stood there a moment and shook her head.

Maioko: "First fate tries to bring us together, now it tries to separate us.  Strange thing is that even though I said I wanted that earlier, I'm unhappy about it now.  Oh well. " With a war cry, she charged into battle, ripping through many a Devil.  They finished up and dusted off.

Kairi: "There are getting to be many Devils in this area.  I wish I could summon Bahumat."

Tifa: "Summoning is difficult in these confined quarters."

Dante: "People, there's more taint in the air."

Ifrit: "I got it." He charged up a large fireball and fired it through the halls.  It incinerated any Devil in its path, singing and ripping through flesh, bone, and steel.  Ifrit cupped his hand to his ear and listened closely.  After a few moments he nodded.

Ifrit: "There's a lot of ash now, but no Devil in our path."

Maioko: "Hey, aren't you a Devil?  Why are you destroying other ones?"

Ifrit: "Well, because I'm still technically Acane's summon, so I've got to fight her enemies.  Besides, we're not even facing real Devils.  The true and stronger Devils actually have some strength.  These are mostly Demons and Hell-spawn."

Maioko: "Difference being?"

Ifrit: "Devils are superior in strength and mind."

Maioko: "Oh."

Acronos: "Ifrit, you missed some."

Ifrit: "No way!  This place has more enemies than I can burn.  (Demonically) No way in Hell...  Hellfire!" After the attack finished, the entire area was burnt!

Dante: "I think the Devils or demons are re-spawning very quickly.  Lets get out of here." They ran through the hall quickly, ignoring what opponents rose.  Well, except for Ifrit, who took the time to burn them all quickly.  They ran out the door and slammed it behind them.  They were inside a circular room that wasn't lit, but was huge.

Acane: "Phew, glad that's over."

Dante: "(Looks up) Taint?"

Acronos: "Uhh, guys?  You remember when I mentioned this room?"

Kairi: "Yes.  Didn't you say casually that there would be a boss fight?"

Acronos: "Yeah, well... I shouldn't have said it casually."

Maioko: "Why?  Grammar isn't so important, you know."

Acronos: "Well, grammar isn't the problem.  That is." He pointed to the center of the room.  In there was a gigantic monster, (gigantic means as big as the room).  It had the head of an ape, horns that pointed down and forward, talons on the feet, four arms of lion, ape, and steel wings. 

  The head of a bull rested upon its right shoulder, an eagle upon the left, a serpentine tail that split into a dragon head and a snake head, and spikes running up the spine.

Ifrit: "I believe that is a high class Demon, but maybe a Devil.  It seems to be an offshoot of a chimera."

Chimera X: "I am the chimera of X, and a Devil.  You are the Devil of fire, Ifrit."

Ifrit: "Yep, what of it?"

Acane: "Hold on, is every Ifrit summoned a Devil?"

Acronos: "Well, not really.  I think when you screwed up the summon, you ended up learning to summon the actual incarnation of the Devil lord of fire, Ifrit."

Ifrit: "That's me!"

Chimera X: "Enough!  We fight, and you die, now!" It swung a lion's arm at them, and they dodged.

Kairi: "Hah, you chose the wrong place to fight me.  Come forth, Bahumat!" The king of dragons came forth, and transformed into the stronger form of Neo Bahumat.  It blasted the chimera and flew around, blasting it every so often.  The chimera swung again, missed, and Acane jumped on its arm and ran up it and began slashing its head.  Acronos Devil Triggered and slashed the legs in places where there might be nerves.  Maioko climbed up it and began blasting the chest at close range.  Auron slashed at the base of a leg, and Acronos focused on the knee above it.  Dante had his bazooka and grenade gun out and was firing at the head.  Tifa had climbed onto the back and was hacking away, aiming to dig into the spine. 

  It fired a blast of energy from its mouth at Dante, but he easily dodged and kept right on firing.  The bull head attempted to get Maioko off by breathing fire on her, but Acronos used a defensive spell on her, and then used one on everyone.  The eagle head used control over wind to try and shove Tifa off, without much success.  The snake and dragon heads tried to stop Acronos and Auron.  While Acronos was easily able to dodge and cut through the knee again, Auron had to focus his efforts on dealing with the snake head. 

  Things were going pretty well until the snake grabbed Auron and flung him into Acronos.  Since he was in Devil form, he didn't fly back, but he had to stop to catch Auron.  The dragon head took advantage of this to blast them both with dark fire, sending them into Dante.  Chimera X grabbed Acane off his head, bashed Tifa away with her head, grabbed her, grabbed Maioko, and threw them all into Acronos, Auron and Dante, who were just getting untangled.

  Acronos found his face in front of Maioko's, almost kissing.  Both blushed the moment they realized where they were.  Auron found himself under a mound of bodies, his head crushed into Acane's back, (he could tell because of the cape).  Dante found himself in a rather, uhh, pleasing situation with Tifa, (think about how Tifa looks and how Dante thinks), although she punched him when she realized where he was.

Acronos: "Uhh, I'll turn to my left, you turn to your left, okay?"

Maioko: "On three... Three!" They turned and everyone tried to struggle their way out.  Chimera X couldn't blast them since Kairi and Bahumat were still attacking it.  Unfortunately struggling just made it worse, and the distance between Acronos and Maioko's faces became a lot smaller, and they lost the ability to move their heads.  Dante chose to let his sense of humor rear its head.

Dante: "You know, under different circumstances and people, you all might enjoy this." Everyone tried his or her best to hit him, but to no avail.

Computer: "Auron, move your right leg over in either direction.  Dante, turn to your left.  Maioko, this may be difficult for you, but move your head to your left so you're not almost kissing Acronos, and move forward.  Tifa, twist slightly and pull your knees in.  Acronos, twist to your left.  Now, everyone pull back." This managed to untangle the group.  Acronos and Maioko separated and stood for a moment, a little freaked out.  After a few seconds, they ran in and began attacking Chimera X again.  It tried to blast them all, but they dodged it and eventually took it down.  The entire place lit up, a coliseum.

Auron: "What?"

Kairi: "When did we get here?"

Acronos: "Taint... Where there's a coliseum, there's got to be a battle." Two Devils walked forward.  One had an insane glint in its eyes, a large broadsword with a skull at the base of the blade and two spikes pointing up for the guard, and the clothes of a berserker.  Another one walked out slowly, garbed in samurai armor that was biological (it was living armor with eyes in some places), and a rather normal katana without a hand guard held at ready.

Acronos: "Oh boy." Ifrit charged the berserk one, and Acane and Auron followed.  Everyone else charged the samurai.  Acronos decided to test the one on his own and the two began a duel.  The samurai could move his sword faster than Acronos, and the armor didn't slow him down at all.  Acronos was actually having difficulty, so he tried magic and energy, but the samurai's armor blocked each shot. 

  Dante ran in and they all began fighting.  The only reason they won is because Acronos distracted it long enough for Dante to blast its head with the shotgun.  It all went downhill for the samurai from there.  They saw the berserk one defeated at about the same time.  The lights dimmed a bit, especially in front of an entrance that was just opening up.  From it, they saw a form walking towards them, and heard a voice.

Announcer: "Two millennia ago, the ultimate Devil rose to defeat the dark emperor Mundus.  His name was Sparda.  We have worked to recreate a Devil of his caliber or higher, and we have succeeded.  Meet the power of the ultimate Devil, the ultimate destructive force!"

Acronos: "No name?" A Devil walked out, large black angel wings, scale/stone armor for skin, horns pointing up, gray skin with red eyes, claws on the hands, human feet, and a long sword.  The sword had a crescent hand guard with spikes pointing out from it, a regular blade with three holes in the middle, the end had two blades pointing down, and a katana end coming from where the blades met.  Basically, it looked like it would seriously hurt if you were stabbed by it.  It stood there for a moment. 

  Dante stepped forward and leveled his guns at it, keeping his blade at ready.  He began firing rapidly, but the Devil simply blocked each and every shot.  Dante ran in to fight close range.  The Devil blocked his attack, and sent him back from the force.  Dante attacked again, but dodged the counter and managed to damage it a bit.  The Devil's eyes flashed red. 

  Up until then, the Devil's movements had been fragmented, as if it had been controlled.  Now, Dante's hit had awakened it and now it was attacking with a purpose.  The speed, power, and skill increased to the point where Dante barely stood a chance.  Acronos ran in, along with everyone else.  The Devil had much more power than any of them, and it was a struggle to keep up with it.  At one point, Acronos tried to slash it, only to miss and have it run in front of him to attack someone else.  The thing about this was that he noticed that there was a dark heartless symbol on its back.

Acronos: "A summon?  I can't afford to loose such a powerful force. " He Devil Triggered himself and attacked it, but without too much success.  However, with everyone else around, they managed to get some pretty good damage in.  Of course the Devil healed after every deadly hit, but it was obvious that its energy was wearing down, and that's what mattered.  Slowly the damage compounded, and the Devil lost some of its speed.  Another problem faced them, Acronos ran out of Trigger strength.  He dealt with the setback as it came by attacking the Devil until his Trigger gauges refilled.  He Triggered again, along with Dante, and they delivered a finishing blow that sent it flying.  Dante raised his blade for the killing blow, but Acronos stopped him.

Acronos: "Allow me." He raised his hand.

Acronos: "Would you mind helping me in my fights?" The Devil looked at him for a few moments, studying carefully.  It nodded only once.  Acronos acquired its power, and nodded happily.

Acronos: "Sparta, after the ancient Greek city of war, and close to the name of the one it was supposed to imitate."

Dante: "Fitting.  Let's move on." Going on for a while, they ended up at the split in the paths.

Acane: "Which way do we go?"

Acronos: "I don't know.  According to the map, these things go forward a tiny bit, disappear, and reappear at one point." His symbol started to glow, and Marcellus and Sparta came out.  They went to the two walls and pushed them together.  The route turned into one direction.  Everyone shrugged, the two returned, and they went forward.

Kairi: "Where does the route lead us from here?"

Acronos: "Well, uhh, there's actually no data any further.  Hold on, there is some data.  There's a large space of nothingness, and then there's a large hall."

Tifa: "'A large space of nothingness'?  That's never good."

Kairi: "Isn't your map supposed to be all-encompassing?"

Acronos: "(Pouting jokingly) It's not my fault!" They went forward until they came to a rather plain door.

Dante: "We don't know what comes after this point.  Is everyone ready?"

Maioko: "That sounded a bit final."

Dante: "It might actually be."

Acane: "Well, I'm going to get my flashlight ready."

Auron: "Why a flashlight?"

Acane: "Acronos said there's a big, black nothing out there.  It's probably dark, so I'm bringing a light!" Anime falls all around.

Auron: "Do you think a tiny little flashlight can pierce through the darkness of space?"

Acane: "(Seriously) No matter the darkness, there can always be a light in it, even if it is a small one."

Maioko: "Deep.  Somewhat poetic.  Let's go." They opened the door and stepped through, right into-

Trish: "Die!" Her handguns began blazing, even though the thing hadn't even reached them yet.  It landed, a large fish-type thing.  It had a human torso with a fish tail, and fins on the back that looked vaguely like wings.  It swung its tail, sending them closer to the water.  Tidus took note of what was going on.

Tidus: "Hey, I'm willing to bet this thing is stronger in the water!  Don't jump in and give it the advantage!" Trish just kept blasting away at it, dodging the tail strikes, along with anything else that came at her.  Everyone attacked it with their weapons, getting in good hits since it wasn't that fast or agile.

Tidus: "Now what would Auron do?  Use a lightning attack to take advantage of its element, dummy!  Good point, and that happens to be my specialty. " He charged his blade with one of his now famous lightning attacks, and unleashed a powerful sword combo upon the unsuspecting monster.  It roared and used its fins like gigantic wings to fling him into the water.  Jumping over everyone in an arc, it dived through the water after him.  Yuna ran in after him, but Trish stopped her.

Trish: "Hold on, what are you doing?"

Yuna: "Going to help Tidus!"

Trish: "The monster has the advantage in the water, and with the clothes you're wearing, you have a disadvantage."

Yuna: "I've got to help him!" The monster and Tidus rose out of the water, thrashing heavily.

Tidus: "Hah, now this is a battle!" Everyone stared at them, gaping at how Tidus was using lightning to his advantage in combat.  Irvine simply stopped gaping and began firing lightning-based shots at it.  Tidus just kept hacking away at it, and eventually both went under again.  Trish kept her position, while Wakka jumped in, Irvine went up close and tried to get a good shot in, but he was lucky if he even remotely managed to get near them.

Yuna: "Trish, you can dive, aren't you going?"

Trish: "I don't think Tidus would like it if you went in and died, so I'm making sure you stay here.  If you promise not to go in, I'm going."

Yuna: "Fine, I'll just heal you guys." Trish didn't even say anything, diving into the water instantly and going to their level.  I think I'll follow them at a closer range.  Tidus was still hacking away at the thing, which was staying relatively in one place, but when it saw Wakka, (more like got hit) it recognized that staying still was not going to be advantageous to its health.

  It zoomed back at an incredible speed, and swung around behind the boys before they'd even manage to swim after where it'd gone the first time!  It slashed them both, knocking them around, and then channeled the water energy into its center and blasted them both.  Tidus shook it off and returned the favor with a lightning beam.  The now-nimble sea monster easily dodged, but it didn't see Irvine's beam from above, which was very accurate since he managed to see where exactly they were. 

  After it shook off the effects, it saw Tidus and Wakka about to whack it, and did a back flip to send them both off course with a tail smash.  Trish came in at this time, blasting away with a strange gun, and turning to her sword when close enough.  Tidus used an underwater version of Spiral Cut to do some damage, and then stuck with lightning attacks from there on.  Wakka used his lightning throw overdrive, and they all pounded away at it, with the occasional shot from Irvine.  The thing launched itself out of the water and into the air.  Using the ability of water manipulation, it created a whirlpool and sucked them to the bottom.  It ended the spinning, and used a stream of water to block Irvine's shot.

Yuna: "Tidus!" Selphie and Lulu had to hold her back, and Irvine was left with facing the monster on his own.

Irvine: "Oh great.  I can't beat something like this if two guys and a Devil girl couldn't.  At least, if you only use your strength.  Huh?  Go on.  Think like Acronos, what would he do if faced with an opponent stronger than himself, and he was all alone.  Hmm, he'd use the environment to his advantage!  Yeah, and with your gun, you can do that better than him. " Irvine managed to get a small smirk across his face.  This disoriented the monster since it was expecting a frightened piece of jelly instead of a human standing alone and smiling.  Irvine pointed the gun at it, and it seemed to raise an eyebrow.  He fired and it merely moved its head out of the way. 

  It seemed to laugh at him as if saying, "What, were you aiming at me?" Irvine understood this and pointed behind it.  The monster had some knowledge of the oldest trick in the book, so it didn't move, that is until part of the roof smashed on its head.  It turned to where Irvine was, only to find air.  It looked around, wondering where the prey had gotten.  It felt a tiny bit of cold metal press against its head.

Irvine: "I love doing this. Live through this one!" Having decided not to take any chances, Irvine proceeded to blast the monster's head point-blank with a huge energy blast.  Irvine found himself without a floor as the monster flew from under his feet and into a wall.  He landed in the water and saw a black thing float towards him.  He poked it.

Irvine: "Squishy?  Black, squishy, a mound...  Ahh!" He sped away as fast as he could go, he couldn't believe he'd just poked Trish's butt, accident or not he was probably going to die soon.  As he swam for his life, he bumped into a bunch of red sticking out of the water.  Immediately identifying it as Wakka, he turned him over.  He had swirls in his eyes, anime style.  Irvine sighed, glad that he was merely knocked out and not dead.  He then saw a nearby patch of yellow that could only be Tidus.  Taking them both, he swam back to shore.

Yuna: "Tidus!  Is he okay?"

Irvine: "I don't really know, you're the white mage here, aren't you?"

Yuna: "Right, I'll heal them, just in case." She healed them a bunch of times, and Irvine was forced to go get Trish.  Luckily for him, she didn't wake up and he managed to get her to shore without her hitting him.  He dumped her unceremoniously on the floor and stood back.  Yuna healed every one of them, a bit frantically, but they still were out.

Irvine: "Hold on, I'll get Tidus.  (Whispers in his ear) Hey!  What's that guy doing to Yuna?"

Tidus: "Who, what, when, kill, where?!"

Irvine: "I thought as much." Tidus kept looking around until his eyes met with Yuna's.  Both of them seemed immediately relieved a bit, and hugged one another.  A chorus of Aww's was the result, well, mainly from Irvine and Selphie; Lulu was more concerned with waking up Trish and Wakka.

Lulu: "Grr, this just isn't working!  Fine, try this out!" she hit them with a lightning spell, but they still remained unconscious.

Irvine: "I'll take care of this.  (To Wakka) How could you possibly hate sports that much?  (To Trish) Uhh…  Mundus calls?"  Both woke up with murder in their eyes, but relaxed upon seeing there was no target nearby.

Trish: "Ugh, my head.  What happened?"

Irvine: "I fought the thing alone, and I managed to win, I think.  Strategy works wonders, now I see why Acronos loves it so much."

Tidus: "Good job Irvine!  Anyway, you have any idea which way we go?"

Yuna: "I believe the only way is forward?"

Irvine: "Yep." They started to leave, only to hear something.

Selphie: "Don't tell me that thing lived through one of your energy blast shots."

Tidus: "I'm not going to, but I think it will."

Trish: "How about we just get out of here and save ourselves the time?"

Tidus: "I don't retreat that easily." He turned around, and immediately wished he hadn't.  The thing was slithering towards them with most of its head blown off.  He shook his head, jumped into the air, and blasted it with Energy Rain.  Unfortunately it still didn't die.  Trish Triggered and blasted it with one of her own energy blasts, but to no avail.  Finally Yuna shook her head, scanned it, and cast Full-Life on it.  The monster died slowly and painfully.

Yuna: "It managed to survive by going into zombie status, and healing magic became a weapon in that case." They shrugged and went on forward.  Eventually they reached a cavernous area.  According to what Irvine and Yuna could translate, this place held the artifact they'd been looking for, but only seemed to have a small black dot on a pedestal.

Tidus: "Is this what we went through all that Hell to get?"

Trish: "Rich people, go figure."

Lulu: "No, there's no data on that thing, merely a magical transport."

Selphie: "Why do I not like the sound of that?"

Tidus: "… I've got a bit of a bad feeling about this thing, and my bad feelings usually turn out right."

Wakka: "Aww c'mon bro, the last time you had a bad feeling was when we had to get a gift for the girls!"

Tidus: "And we ended up falling into a changing room, getting perfumed/maced, and beaten senseless by a mob of insane girls who thought we were perverts, just because we fell since you were trying to get me into a headlock over which sweater to get!"

Wakka: "Well… okay, so that time you were right… But can you name any other times?"

Tidus: "How about on that day when it was very sunny and I kept saying it was going to rain, and it did?  Or how about when you tried to get Riku to eat a Paopu fruit alone, and he ended up chasing us all around the islands?  (Muttering) How he managed to lift up a fallen palm tree and chase us with it is beyond me, but that's Riku I guess.  Or how about the time when-"

Wakka: "Alright already, I get your point!" Everyone giggled or chuckled at this.

Trish: "Well, we really can't do anything about your bad feeling except to be prepared, there isn't exactly anywhere else to go."

Tidus: "True." Trish stepped forward carefully and held her hand out.  Her fingers gently brushed the tiny point of nothingness, and

Darkness, absolute and complete darkness.  Acronos looked around, but didn't see anything, not even his own hands.  A spot of brightness all but blinded him.

Acane: "Hello! (Echoes) Echo! (Echoes)  Muahaha!"

Acronos: "Hey, Acane, is that you?"

Acane: "Yep!  When did we get separated?"

Acronos: "I think we might have fallen down when we stepped through the door.  I'm going to try to create a flame for light." Acane nodded and he created as large a flame as he could.  Lifting it up, it only shone in a five-foot radius around them both.

Acane: "(Raised eyebrow) Big, but not very strong."

Acronos: "(Twitch) That didn't sound right.  Hmm..." He looked around from his vantage point, but saw no one.

Acane: "Maybe they'll see the light and come here?"

Acronos: "Doubtful.  Let's go." Acane seemed a bit apprehensive, but they looked around.

Acane: "We'll never find anyone at this rate!"

Acronos: "Hmm, you're right.  If we can't pierce the shadows with our light, this strategy will never work.  Perhaps what we need is a connection with the darkness." He called forth Umbra.  He pointed forward.

Acronos: "Can you navigate the darkness?" Umbra nodded and sprung out of the light, seeming a bit happy to be back in its element.

Acane: "Well, we get to stay right here then!"

Acronos: "... Are you afraid of the dark?"

Acane: "What?  No way! (Acronos glares at her) Well, not completely.  I just have this strange feeling in my gut that moving from here will put us directly in the darkness, and it won't be good."

Acronos: "Oh.  That's reasonable."

Acane: "You seem quiet, what's up?"

Acronos: "I don't know.  I feel a bit different." Acronos turned his head almost convulsively, and Devil spoke.

Devil: "You're close to level 35.  At that level you can Trigger without the use of a powerful keyblade.  There also seems to be someone else waking up in here." Twitch back to Acronos.

Acronos: "When did you learn to do this?"

Devil: "You Triggered enough times."

Acane: "You do realize that you look crazy?"

Acronos: "Hold on." After messing with his computer a bit, a hologram of the Devil form was projected.

Devil: "Glad you thought of this, kid.  It's not exactly comfortable to turn your head like that."

Acronos: "So, who's this new personality waking up?"

Devil: "(Looks behind him) Well, he's got wings."

Acane: "Okay, I think your shadow is coming back."

Acronos: "Cool." The Devil disappears and Umbra comes back with Dante, Auron, and Tifa.

Acane: "You didn't find the others?" Umbra shook its head.

Dante: "It's way too quiet here."

Auron: "Does your map list our location?"

Acronos: "No.  Hold on, I'll try to sense them." He closed his eyes for a bit, and then turned and pointed in a random direction.  He started off in that direction, and so did everyone else.  After a bit of walking, they found Maioko and Kairi.

Kairi: "Hey guys."

Maioko: "Does anyone else thing it's cold here?" Nearly everyone shakes his or her head, but Acronos responded.

Acronos: "Well, it isn't exactly warm." He clenched and unclenched his fists, breaking off a few icicles.  Everyone else stares.

Acane: "Where to from here?" Umbra points in another random direction.

Acronos: "That way." They head in that direction, with Maioko running ahead briefly, and then running back.  Acronos simply resisted the cold he was feeling and walked with everyone else.  At one point, the entire area wavered.

Maioko: "Huh?" A dark tendril encased her.  From inside it, she looked around and began screaming.  Acronos ran in full speed, only to be stopped by his archangel form as it was on that day.  He skidded to a stop, but heard Maioko screaming even louder, and his protective instinct came into play.  He ran at it, hoping that it would dodge his strike.

  No such luck, it swung an enormous blade up, blocking his strike and sending him flying onto his back.  He jumped right back up, and took a quick look around at a very dismal situation.  Auron was facing a pumped-up version of Yunalesca.  Tidus and Yuna were engulfed in dark tendrils, Tidus was swinging his blade madly, and Yuna was trying to summon and cure. 

  Kairi was facing an evil copy of Sora, Tifa was in a dark tendril, Dante was in a dark tendril, and Acane was facing an evil/demonic looking Final Aeon.  Acronos gulped and Devil Triggered, hoping that perhaps the near-immortality might help him out a bit in the battle.  He fought with the Archangel, but it obviously had the advantage, and seemed to only be toying with him.  Acane didn't exactly seem to be doing too well either.  Finally something just snapped within her.

Acane: "Okay, that's it!  No more, I won't let the Final Aeon take any more of the people I care about!" She shone with an immense light.  Spinning her spear around her, she stopped it and it was infused with the essence of light.  Touching the rune on her forehead with her free hand's first two fingers, she raised that hand, and from there down began to change.  Feathers spiraled around her arm, and it changed to having a small wing upon it (think Sephiroth, but with an angel wing on his hand instead of the fin things), and it glowed.  From the spear, her other hand changed similarly.  Slowly everything else began to change, but two pure white wings sprung out of her back and covered her.  A few moments and they opened, revealing Acane as an angel.

Devil: "I knew I smelled an angel."

Acronos: "Hey Acane, I never knew you could transform as well."

Acane: "Die Final Aeon, die!" She started to attack in a fury, but the Final Aeon was still stronger.  Acronos heard a loud crack, and noticed the flat of the archangel's blade on his skull.  He was sent spinning away, but stopped himself.

Devil: "Okay, that's it!  Here's a new version of an old Devil technique, Vortex!" He launched himself from the ground and spun himself with his blade at his side, making a cyclone of black lightning around him.  As he got closer, he stuck his blade forward, still maintaining the cyclone around him.  This was useful since there was no way to go around it.  As the Archangel seemed ready to dodge or block, Devil put on a burst of speed that got him there before the archangel could even think about it. 

  The archangel tried to jump away, but Devil's speed was too much and it was impaled and sent flying from the momentum, with the blade still through its heart.  Devil ripped out his blade and flew back.  Archangel stayed there for a bit, but got right back up brushing itself off.

Devil: "What?  That was a direct shot to the heart at full strength!  Are you immortal or something? (It nods) Perfect, just perfect." He flew in and continued attacking.  Acane was fighting the Final Aeon, using her light abilities to do decent damage.  She flew in, stabbing and hacking away with her spear, but to little effect.  Having a bright idea, she raised her spear into the air, it floated up, and she drew her blades, and combined all three into a big-ass sword.  The Final Aeon looked vaguely amused at this seemingly futile attempt to damage it, but wasn't as amused when the blade hit it and did serious damage.

Acane: "Hah!  Take that!" She flew around doing pretty good damage, and Acronos flew around doing the same with his dark-energy pumped keyblade.  At one point, their enemies began pushing the offensive, and pressed them back-to-back.

Devil: "Hello Angel."

Angel: "Do we really have time for the usual conflicts?"

Devil: "Nah, besides, I didn't even want to start, just felt like saying hi to the only spiritual thing around here besides Ifrit."

Acronos: "(Mildly panicked) Devil, can we focus on the task at hand?"

Acane: "Hey, I didn't know my angel half actually had a personality!"

Acronos: "Well I guess it does, but we're kinda screwed right now!!"

Devil: "Not for long!  Care to put aside our differences in light of the more important task of staying alive?"

Angel: "This coming from Death's heir?  Sure, why not?"

Devil: "Okay, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Angel: "It's been a while since this has been done."

Devil: "And it's going to be even longer before anyone dares to forget it!"

Angel & Devil: "Heaven Hell Combo!"  They both flew high above their opponents, who'd just ended up crashing into one another.  Acane raised her hands in the air, and cupped them so there was a circle.  Acronos lowered his hands and formed a circle there.  The rune for light appeared in Acane's hands, and the rune for dark appeared in Acronos'.  Both shot a blast of their respective energies at their opponents, marking them. 

  A sky appeared and seemed to open up, shining the most pure light on Acane's angel form.  The ground opened and darkness erupted forth to taint Acronos and make him supreme.  The entire area disappeared and Acronos was below the two creatures, and Acane above.  Both began spinning really, really fast, and unleashed Acronos' vortex attack onto their enemies, except much stronger.  When the two connected, they both became lights of their respective colors, and began zipping around, hitting each one for grievous damage each and every time. 

  After about ten seconds of this, they rose to the sides of the soon to be dead opponents.  Both placed their hands in front of them and began pouring their energies into that point.  Reality wavered behind them, and their spirits took the form of beasts that closely resembled them.  Acronos' took on the form of a giant dragon, a larger version of Bahumat, while Acane's went to the form of a large griffon, (no, not the giant bird from Devil May Cry, but the actual horse/bird cross thing).  With a roar, both beasts flew forward and rammed into the Final Aeon and Archangel Acronos.  Acronos and Acane floated down smirking, went towards each other, and shook hands.  The attack finished, they looked to see the results.  The largest piece of the Final Aeon was about the size of a postage stamp, but Archangel Acronos was still standing, barely.

Acronos: "Crap, I used up all my Trigger strength in that!"

Acane: "I also wasted all my mp, so I can't keep up my form.  However, I at least can make some good of this."

Acronos: "Oh, and what's that?"

Acane: "My final attack in angel form!" Spinning around, the feathers on her wings became darts and proceeded to fly at Archangel Acronos.  She landed, becoming herself, but Archangel was still standing somehow.

Devil: "Oh yeah, the thing's immortal.  Wait, I forgot, I'm a descendant of the house of Death itself!  You're only immortal if death isn't strong enough to beat you, so prepare for my final attack!" Devil flew forward, straight out of Acronos, leaving him to fall to the ground (Acronos: "Oww, my head!"), grabbed the Archangel, and quite literally pulled it back into Hell with him (it was flung into Heaven a microsecond after that).  He flew right back out and the ground closed.  Poof, he returned to occupying a space in Acronos' head.

(Inside Acronos' head)

Devil: "I'm back!"

Acronos: "Great, it was peaceful for a second there.  Oh yeah, why'd you drop me!?"

Devil: "Heh, sorry." Someone new walks out of the shadows.  He has golden wings.

Archangel: "What's up?"

Devil: "Didn't I just beat you?"

Archangel: "Actually, that was just our host's fear.  He fears me coming to life as an evil being and destroying all his friends, you know, that whole deal."

Devil: "Oh.  Well, kid, we've got a new person in here."

Acronos: "Multiple personalities?  Am I crazy?"

Devil: "Partially, why?"

Acronos: "Sigh, I forgot that's what I always say, never mind then.  (He leaves into consciousness)"

Devil: "So, who are you really?  I know the kid has no angelic blood whatsoever in him, but there is something different about him that isn't me."

Archangel: "Well, I'm just posing as an archangel since I do kinda look the part, neh?  I can't tell our host who I am really until he discovers who he is.  He also can't trigger me since the form I actually give can only be reached at level 100 or with the Master's keyblade."

Devil: "Then what was that thing he just fought?"

Archangel: "Well, when he triggered my form the first time, he had the power of an entire world at his disposal, and his rage allowed him to use it.  Unfortunately, that triggered a tainted version of what I am, a Fierce.  Not that I disapprove of your use of taint, but I mean tainted as being incorrectly created.  In short, he triggered the chaos abilities within him into a physical form.  By the way, that isn't good."

Devil: "Ah.  So you're here to make sure he never does that again?"

Archangel: "Yep.  Plus it got boring sleeping until he reaches level 100.  I appeared when he got strong enough to take the mental strain."

Devil: "Don't you think this is pushing it a bit?  If we add another powerful personality in here, something might happen to his sanity."

Archangel: "There's nobody else here but his inner child, and that is tied to the physical body, so there's nobody else who'll be in here.  Besides, what would he do, turn into a kid from insanity?"

Devil: "Uhh, why do I get a bad feeling from what you just said?"

Archangel: "So did I… Uh-oh."

Devil: "We'll just have to make sure he never gets another personality in here with us."

Archangel: "You mean a separate personality that connects to a separate body, multiple personalities simply are portions of the self split off from the actual mind."

Devil: "Whatever."

(Outside)

Acronos: "Well, that was entertaining.  (Realizes where he is) Ahh!  Gotta save everybody!"

Acane: "I'll help out Auron!"

Acronos: "I'll cut everybody else free!" They rush to their assigned tasks.  Acronos' protective instincts take precedence and he frees Maioko first.  She falls into his arms, sobbing.

Acronos: "Maioko, what happened?"

Maioko: "Why?"

Acronos: "Huh?"

Maioko: "Why?" She just stays there in a slightly comatose state.  Acronos uses a hi-potion on her, but has to go help the others.  He frees Tidus and Yuna, who collapse, but upon seeing each other, embrace tightly.  He leaves them be and heads for Dante.  Upon cutting him loose, he sways a bit, but keeps standing.  After a second, he dons a somewhat fake smirk.

Dante: "(Shakily) Heh, why'd you cut me loose?  I was having fun cutting through a few weak demons."

Acronos: "(Raised eyebrow, you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look) So you were facing an army of insanely powerful Devils who'd taken over the world?" Dante just stares, takes a shaky sigh, and stands back up to full height.  He seems okay, so Acronos ran to Tifa.  She fell down, but got right back up, smiling, (obviously fake).

Tifa: "(Large fake smile) So, how is everyone else?"

Acronos: "I suppose they're okay, let's help Kairi.  Tifa, are you okay?"

Tifa: "Sure, why wouldn't I be?"

Acronos: "You have your own reasons, but don't keep anything inside too long.  It tends to hurt yourself and others."

Tifa: "(Thinking) Right… I guess…" Acronos ran to help Kairi, only to find her whacking the evil Sora on the head very many times.  The dark keyblade copy was far away and Kairi was just whacking him.  It was actually rather light whacks, designed only to stop him from moving.

Kairi: "(Cheerily) Hey Acronos!  Mind finishing this?  I can keep this up all day, but you might as well end it."

Acronos: "(Surprised) Sure…" He lands a cut to the neck, ending the dark copy's life.  Kairi had her eyes closed during it.

Kairi: "Well, I can conquer my fears, I'm sort of used to it by now.  I couldn't finish the battle, but I was at least strong enough to hold him off." Acronos nods and goes back to Maioko.  He gets to her and kneels down to check on her.  He ducks as Yunalesca flies over his head and an extremely pissed off Auron and Acane give chase.

Acronos: "Maioko, are you okay?  Of course she's not, you idiot! Please, is there anything I can do to help?"

Maioko: "Why?  (Trembles)  No, just… give me some time… I can handle this… alone… As I always do…  And always will…"

Acronos: "You're not alone, we're here to help you.  Even if your friends aren't always around, our hearts are still with you.  Don't fight all your battles alone, we can help you."

Maioko: "… I don't know why you'd want to…"

Acronos: "You're our friend.  We will always help you, no matter what."

Maioko: "There's no point in helping someone weak.  No matter what you do, they'll never get strong enough not to be dependant on something."

Acronos: "You're not weak, you're one of the strongest people I know.  C'mon, you punched Ifrit through a freaking wall after he'd used Hellfire!" Maioko gives a small chuckle at this.

Maioko: "That was… rather funny, wasn't it?  Especially you getting burnt beforehand."

Acronos: "(Jokingly indignant) Hey!" Both crack up laughing.  Maioko gets up, along with Acronos.

Maioko: "Thanks.  Let's get out of here."

Acronos: "Give Auron and Acane a little time to beat Yunalesca around." Said fool flies at them.  Maioko rolls her eyes and grabs her out of mid-air and lifts her up.

Maioko: "Loose something?"

Auron: "Thank you, we almost did."

Acronos: "Just finish her off already."

Acane: "That's the problem, we've been smacking her around with some of our most powerful attacks for a while now, but she just won't die!!!!"

Maioko: "Uhh…" They begin tearing away at her like wolves at a carcass.

Maioko: "Guys?  What about this?" She walks over and calmly pushes a button on Yunalesca's forehead.  She stops, twitches, and dies.  Auron and Acane both watch with similar expressions of disbelief.

Acane: "But…but…"

Auron: "Aww, but I wanted to kill her!" Everyone stares at him.  He clears his throat in an effort to save some shred of his former dignity.

Auron: "Ahem, what I meant to say is that I am glad she was finally defeated, though I desired the finishing blow."

Acronos: "Right… …"

Maioko: "Let's move out!" They head towards the direction they were heading and see a bright golden light.

Acane: "Yay, heat!" All their fears step out and stand to guard the door, and then merge to form one last, giant beast of terror.  The door disappears.

Acronos: "Hold on, why fight conventionally?  Or even fairly?  Guys, cover your eyes, I'm about to summon the most evil thing ever to taint existence by being spawned."  The ones not from Earth or here are extremely surprised and move back.  Maioko, however, knows what Acronos is talking about.

Maioko: "No, you can't possibly be willing to summon…"

Acronos: "Yes, if that's what it takes."

Dante: "What the hell are you two babbling about?  If you're going to summon something, do it now!  They're coming after us!" He settles into a ready stance with his sword and guns ready.  From the darkness, a blade falls out and into his hands, a curved broadsword, with red lightning flying across it.  He looks at it with interest, and levels it at ready.  Acronos raises his computer, punches in a few commands, puts his finger over a button gingerly, and turns away, closing his eyes.

"I love you, you love me…" Maioko screams in terror, Dante raises an eyebrow, everyone else looks at it and start to become hypnotized by the strange ways of the demonic beast of Satan, and the fear monster starts to shriek in pain.  It writhes around like a snake, its eyes on fire, and most of the rest of the body dissolving as if in acid.  After much shrieking, it lies on the floor in a fetal position, holding a small blanket and a teddy bear for comfort, sucking its thumb and rocking back and forth. 

  Acronos ends the hologram, holding back the torrent of laughter that threatened to erupt forth.  Maioko is under similar circumstances, the other two start to wake as if from a daze, and Dante is on the floor, rolling around, laughing his ass off.  Acronos and Maioko take a cue from him and begin laughing as well.  After much laughing, the three get up, breathing heavily and holding their sides.

Dante: "(Wiping a laughter-induced tear from his eye) That was good Acronos, incredibly cheap, but then again chivalry is supposed to be dead anyway."

Maioko: "I never knew it would have that kind of effect, but who cares?"

Acronos: "I figured that the master of inducing terror and hypnotism might terrorize the being made of terror.  Barney is technically so much of a goody-goody that it burns and harms everyone who isn't completely innocent, thusly making him an instrument of Satan."

Maioko: "Hey, I just hope nobody hears you back on Earth and decides to attempt to burn him… Hey wait, what am I saying, that's a good thing!  I almost feel sorry for the poor fool who has to play Barney to stay alive."

Ifrit: "Did someone say something about burning?"

Dante: "Hey, where were you during the battle?"

Ifrit: "I was too terrified by visions of ice and cold that I retreated to Hell.  Now, what needs to be burnt?"

Acronos: "This entire place would be a good place to start with, but what I said needed to be burnt was that instrument of Satan, Barney."

Ifrit: "AHH!  NO, THAT THING IS MORE EVIL THAN I AM!!!  I TRIED TO BURN IT WHEN I FIRST SAW IT, BUT IT WOULDN'T BURN!!!!" He sobs frantically.

Acronos: "(Pats back) There, there.  You can burn this entire room once we're done, okay?  Feel any better?"

Ifrit: "(Sniffle) Really?  Thank you, I feel much better.  Can I start now?"

Maioko: "Not until we're out the exit."

Ifrit: "I'll get you there really quick!" An orb of fire surrounded them and then opened up, right at the exit.

Acane: "Now why didn't you tell us you could do that before?"

Ifrit: "You never asked." She rolls her eyes, Maioko thanks him, and Acronos pats him on the back and gives him a small wind gem.

Acronos: "(Only to Ifrit) Use that to increase the size and power of your flames.  Have fun." They went through the exit, Acronos shut the door and stopped.

Maioko: "What's up?"

Acronos: "I'm debating whether giving Ifrit a wind gem was such a good idea."

Acane: "It wasn't, but then again he'll be happier." The door bulges a moment, and smoke starts coming out from the edges.

Dante: "He seems to be having fun." They shake their heads and run as far away from the door as possible, right into another one.

Acronos: "Owwie.  Whoa, big door."

Maioko: "Yes, but the question is what's behind it?"

Auron: "Might I recommend that only one of us goes behind this time and we wait for a response?  It would be a bit safer, so that we would be prepared for a trap, if any."

Dante: "Maybe two people should go, if one person goes, they stand a chance of death, while if two go there's at least a chance that they may live long enough for us to come in." Acronos peered through a crack in the door.

Acronos: "Hmm, I'll go.  If the keyhole is behind here, it would be mainly my job to seal it, so why have anyone else?"

Acane: "Maybe I should go with you, we can use our 'Heaven Hell Combo' if necessary?"

Maioko: "Or maybe I can go?"

Kairi: "My abilities could provide you with an increase in your strength."

Dante: "I can blow anything out of your way with my handguns, which are still the best by the way."

Tifa: "I'm a bit stronger than you so it might be advantageous to have me along."

Auron: "I could cut down anything you need out of the way."

Acronos: "(Big smile) No, I think I should take this one… alone." With that he went through the rather immense doors, and closed them behind him.

Maioko: "Why'd he go alone?"

Kairi: "To save us from any danger?"

Dante: "Maybe, but I don't sense any taint behind that door."

Tifa: "There's almost no energy in the room either."

Auron: "Was he simply bored?" With Acronos, he was in an enormous room, bigger than the doors that led to it.  It had large windows taking up the entire wall, and light shone in from nowhere.

Acronos: "This was Mundus' palace in Devil May Cry, right? Devil: "Yeah, wonder why it's here, Dante sealed Mundus away for a good two thousand years with the ass-kicking he gave him." Archangel: "Yes, but there appear to be different details here.  Look, some portions of the walls are living entities filled with lost souls, as in the second game." D: "I'd bet there's portions from nearly all the Underworld in here.  Hey, was that my house?" No time for that, I wonder why everything's here?  It makes very little sense since all these things have been beaten and destroyed. "

  Looking around, he noticed a small and simple wooden desk, no decorations on it.  He walked up to it slowly, wary, and one hand ready with the darts, the other holding the keyblade as if life depended on it.  The swiveling chair behind the desk was rather unremarkable, but it was turned away, and Acronos knew that the person behind it would usually hold a great deal of power. 

  Unfortunately he was wrong, and the chair turned to reveal Mal.  He had somewhat light brown hair in no particular style, a loose black T-shirt, gray sweatpants, and (snicker) a powder blue scarf with little fluffy-white kittens on it.  Acronos gaped at the kittens and tried his hardest not to laugh, but failed miserably, falling to the ground in mirth.

Mal: "Sure, laugh at the kittens, but at least I won't catch a cold.  So when you're sick in bed and coughing your lungs out, I'll be laughing. (Acronos continues laughing) Alright already!  (Sad and pouting) C'mon, give me a break." Acronos' compassion was more powerful than his desire to laugh, so he stopped and rose.  Deciding to humor the guy, he addressed him as a hero would a villain.

Acronos: "So what are you here for, evil Demon!"

Mal: "(Smiling happily) Yay!   I am here… to tell you where the keyhole is." Acronos anime falls, giving himself a bump.  Mal walks over and puts a band-aid on his head.

Mal: "Can't be too careful, you know?  Oh, and I didn't mean right now, I meant after you face a few really powerful people." Mal reaches into space and grabs a white scarf with little bunnies on it and drags Mundus over with the thing latched firmly onto his neck.  Acronos bursts out laughing again.

Acronos: "Just a second, Dante has got to see this!" His friends come in, Dante takes one look at Mundus and falls to the floor laughing from the pain in his sides due to laughter, (Mundus was the final boss of Devil May Cry, completely evil, and a giant stone angel-looking person who impaled Dante about… 6 to 60 times?)

Dante: "(Cackling) Bwahahaha!  Ahahaha!  Muahahahahahahahah!  Mundus, you poor b******, I almost pity you!  This is worse than anything I ever could have done, Bwahahaha!" Acane walks up to him.

Acane: "Let me guess, in an effort to free yourself to wreak revenge and evil, you called upon the heartless.  After they healed you, you somehow became their servant."

Mundus: "(Too ashamed to speak, nods)"

Maioko: "Only one word can only describe this: whipped." She joins Acronos and Dante in laughing hysterically.

Auron: "And I'm guessing this person, (Mal: "My nickname is Mal.") Mal, came around recently?"

Mundus: "(Nods)"

Auron: "I pity you.  Then again, you did manage to somehow inflict this upon yourself, so forget that." He smirks evilly, his equivalent of laughing his head off.  Acane stares a little longer and notices that his nails have been shined, and there's a tool for sanding off stone still hanging off one of them.  She smirks, and then laughs her head off as well.  Tifa has already fallen comatose from too much laughter.  Kairi is barely stifling her laughter.

Kairi: "Mr. Mal, why did you attempt to shine his nails?"

Mal: "Well, he's a statue, so I just thought of how to make a statue presentable.  By the way, I just caught the thought going through your head, Hunter, and I am not gay!  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but still…" He then pulls over a fire-angel thing by a little purple scarf with penguins on it.

Mal: "Isn't this scarf cute with the whole flame motif?"

Mundus & Fire angel: "(Begging and pleading) Kill us now, please." Everyone continues laughing his or her head off, and Dante only stops long enough to pull out his camera and take a picture.  Mundus and the fire angel then try their best to die on the spot, but unfortunately they are immortal.

Mal: "You know, it isn't nice to laugh at people." He raises his hands in a threatening manner, but Acronos is still too busy laughing to notice.  He then gives a sour look and points at him, hitting him with a magic spell.  As the light clears, everyone looks at him, having stopped laughing and become concerned.

Acronos: "(Clears dust with wind spell) Was that the best you had?  It didn't even hurt!" Everyone looks at him and the same expression crosses their faces as when they first saw Mundus.  Acronos looks confused and searches his neck for a scarf, finds one, and pulls it off.  It had rather large keys and doors on it.

Acronos: "I don't get it, the scarf actually isn't that stupid."

Tifa: "Might I recommend a mirror?" Acronos is still very confused and manipulates some water to form a reflective surface.  Upon finishing, he looks at it and his eyes widen immensely.  He is wearing a very thin polka-dotted dress with frills all over, rather effeminate sandals, and pink bows in his now silky smooth hair.

Acronos: "(Screams like there's no tomorrow, like Ifrit in Greenland, like Barney without drugs, etc.)" As soon as he stops, he notes that everyone is looking at him sympathetically, with smiles on their faces, while Dante is laughing his head off again.  Acronos gives him an evil look and grabs the side of the dress to rip it off, but stops, pokes his waist, blushes a bit, and pulls out a belt.  He wraps it firmly around his waist and rips the top off the dress.  He looks down again, utterly confused and pulls off a red, lacy bra.

Acronos: "Huh?  What is this and why am I wearing it?" Maioko grabs it from him to preserve some of his innocence, reads the nametag, and her eyes widen.  She smacks Acronos across the face really hard, sending him flying to the ground.  She then goes over to Mal and smacks him even harder.

Acronos: "Oww!  What did I do?"

Mal: "Hey, it was the nearest one!" She smacks him again and walks away, and when nobody's looking, puts it into her clothes pocket from where it had been stolen.  Then she turns to Acronos to apologize, and her stupid mind makes her look down from his face.  Add the way-too-thin fabric of the dress to the fact that Acronos was shirtless, and you can tell why her face became very red.  Acronos looked down at the bottom of the dress.

Acronos: "Just so you all know, I am now wearing a kilt, a kilt!  Got that?" Mal changes the fabric to the usual Scottish style.  Acronos looks at him.

Mal: "It suits you, wear it more often."

Acronos: "(Struck by Devilish inspiration) I think I might.  Oh, could you do me a favor?  (Points at Dante who's still laughing)"

Mal: "Sure!" Dante is then dressed in a very frilly maid outfit, with little hearts all over.  Acronos then laughs.  Dante rips it off before he can think, and is reduced to a Speedo.

Dante: "Good God!" Everyone starts laughing at that one.  Mal dresses him in a crimson tunic.

Mal: "This isn't bad on you either, might get lucky if you know what I mean." Dante sees that it is a bit tight, showing off his abs, and the tunic was rather short.

Dante: "Yep, I'm definitely gonna wear this wherever there are girls.  And dude, we just acquired outfits of massive eye-candy."

Acronos: "What do you mean?  What's the point of this 'eye-candy' you speak of?"

Maioko: "No, don't!  He's still way too innocent, keep him that way!"

Dante: "Fine, fine.  You'll know when you need to know."

Acronos: "Oh well (Puts scarf back on for the hell of it)…  Mal, is this all you've got?  Your current, (remembers bows and rips them out and re-spikes his hair), warriors would prefer death to their lives." A sudden breeze flies by.  Mal instantly uses one last clothing spell on the two of them as he feels the wind coming, (Boxers for both of them, normal looking, but unfortunately a bit thin).  Acronos doesn't notice his kilt flying up and around him, while Dante covers up his tunic, but only a bit.  Maioko proceeds to fall over with a nosebleed, and Acane starts drooling.  Tifa is nonplussed, and Kairi looks at them with a raised eyebrow.

Kairi: "If I wasn't already after someone…"

Acronos: "Maioko?  Acane?  Kairi?  Why are you looking at me like that?"

Mal: "Okay then, on to the business at hand.  You must defeat my warriors, (Dante jumps up and chops both their heads off, sealing them both again), uhh, okay then!  (Brightly) You still have one more to face!" A giant woman walks in.

Olga: "(Man's voice) My name is Olga, I shall face you." She looks terrifying.  She's rather fat, is wearing some sort of a dress, and has little bows in her very short hair.

Acronos: "I don't think summoning Barney will scare this fear away."

Olga: "Barney, I like Barney." Acronos' eye twitches.  To preserve some sanity, he shoves the Devil personality up at front.

Devil: "Oh good Lords of Light and Dark!  (Looks down) Hey, nice idea kid, this'll hook you more women than you should be capable of handling, but then again…" Acronos is shoved back, since Devil is almost terrified of the strangely manly Olga.  He pulls out Archangel.

Arch: "(Twitch) Oh good Lord!  Do we have to face such a thing?  (Looks down) Hmm, nice choice of an outfit, your genes should spread nicely with this." Acronos is shoved back out.  He turns around, hoping that Olga will go away.  Dante aims, but drops the gun, saying his eyes burn since a gust just blew through.  Acane tries to use an attack, but suddenly Olga becomes about 100 ands lifts her dress up a bit.  Everyone proceeds to try and claw his or her eyes out.  As this happens, a small black dot appears above Olga, and a hole is ripped open, and drops all the other group onto her.  After landing on her head, they all fall to the ground and begin grumbling or moaning.  They all shook it off.

Dante: "Trish?  Weren't you just at-"

Trish: "I was, but the place where the artifact was supposed to be teleported us here."

Mal: "Artifact?  You mean this?" He holds up a cylinder.  Trish puts her hand out and gives Mal a give-it-here-or-you-die-slowly look.  He tosses it over.

Trish: "So, what's the problem?"

Dante: "That." Trish sees Olga, still 100 and still showing off more than anyone her age should, and turns away.

Trish: "Ah.  Now, why are we in this situation?"

Mal: "That would be due to me?"

Tidus: "Are those… kittens on his… scarf?  Bwahahaha!"

Yuna: "I believe they are rather nice… Acronos are you wearing a kilt!?"

Trish: "Whoa, Dante, I never pictured you in a tunic…" Selphie proceeds to drool and formulate evil matchmaking plans.  Lulu looks very surprised.

Acronos: "Yes I am wearing a kilt, why does this make every female I know seem, uhh…"

Devil: "Hormonal?"

Acronos: "Yeah, that's it!" Every girl who'd been acting so immediately blushed, especially since Acronos currently didn't even understand what he was talking about.

Maioko: "Mal, can you tell your warrior of evil and doom to please stop attempting to kill us and fight?"

Mal: "Well, I can't exactly say to not kill you and still fight, but…" Olga became her strangely manly, (but at least not 100) self and raised a massive axe.

Wakka: "Oh boy…  Titan!" The summon was about her size, and the two began fighting as only giant beings can.  Wakka had to be dragged away to make sure he wasn't stepped on.  Maioko suddenly had a very devious idea, (she keeps grudges a long time).

Maioko: "Trish, let's go in and help out by destroying the leg!"

Acronos: "(Triggers) I call head!"

Acane: "(Triggers) Ditto!"

Auron: "I will get the other leg."

Tidus: "I'll help out!"

Lulu: "I think that we can take the arms, Wakka, Yuna?"

Wakka & Yuna: "Right!"

Tifa & Kairi: "We'll get the other arm!" Wakka called back his summon, and they all attacked.  After a while, Olga seemed to be weakening, all that was needed was for one leg to collapse, and then perhaps she'd fall and the final blow could be delivered.  Maioko and Trish were hacking away at the leg with a vengeance, when Trish got a little bored.

Trish: "So, (hack), Maioko!  I saw how you looked at Acronos in that kilt.  (Slash) Any luck with the seduction route?"

Maioko: "(Smash) No, but I think I just got a bit of luck."

Trish: "Really?  What's (Stab) that?"

Maioko: "This!" She jumped, spun, and smashed Trish's head into Olga's leg, causing the giant woman to collapse to her knees.  Trish proceeded to jump out of the way as best as possible, considering the fact that her reactions were that of a drunk, and Acronos impaled Olga as best he could.  She died.

Mal: "Bravo!  The keyhole is over there." He points right next to Acronos, who upon seeing it, whacks himself on the head for missing it.  Sealing it and removing the barrier, he turns to Mal.

Mal: "Keep the stuff, it's on me.  See you!" He disappears in a puff of pink smoke, and you hear distant cursing about hating the color pink.  Acronos returns to normal and shrugs.  Trish proceeds to yell at Maioko for that last attack, while she returns the yelling.  He sighs, and walks over to stop the fight.  Unfortunately, one of Trish's more violent gestures makes contact with his head and sends him flying.  Maioko starts yelling even more fiercely.  Dante goes up to the now somewhat dead keyblade master.

Dante: "Never get in between two girls fighting.  Especially when it even remotely involves you."

Acronos: "I'll remember that, and if I don't I'm sure to be reminded, painfully."

Dante: "Yep.  See you later, I think that about wraps up this mission."

Acronos: "Not really, didn't we come here to stop some freak with a strange sense of humor?"

Dante: "Good point." He looks around and sees a small closet.  Both get up and walk towards it, being the only ones since everyone else was busy with Maioko and Trish's argument.  They opened it and found-

Dante: "Arius?  Didn't I kill you?"(Main evil person of Devil May Cry II, and a sissy)

Arius: "Umm, yes you did?  I am not actually here, you are hallucinating from the fear that has been brought upon you?"

Acronos: "Well, if he wasn't dead before, make sure he stays dead this time."

Dante: "With pleasure." He raises his blade and impales Arius through the head and neck, and makes sure to destroy him.  Once they've burnt the ashes, they go back.  Maioko has Trish in a headlock, pulling on her hair, and Trish is attempting to beat her head with a slab of rock she'd ripped out of the ground.  Acronos shakes his head.

Acronos: "UNATTENDED PILES OF MONEY!!!" Trish rips out of the headlock.

Trish: "WHERE!?" Acronos sighs and they all find a save point where Arius had once been.  They return to Dante's office.

Irvine: "Now, who'd want an artifact of the Manna, and why would they need it?" A wealthy looking British person walks in.

British person: "Do you have my artifact?"

Dante: "Do you have my money?"

British person: "Do you have my artifact?"

Dante: "Do you have my money?"

British person: "Yes, I have your money, now where's my artifact?"

Dante: "Right here."

British Person: "Well, I can't exactly let anyone know where this came from, or even what it remotely is, so…" He pulls out a gun and loads a silver bullet in.  Dante raises an eyebrow.  Irvine pulls his shotgun out and has it to the man's head, before he can even raise the gun.

Irvine: "Don't bother, the gun won't hurt Dante, and the artifact is worthless in plans for world domination since it only contains knowledge that scholars would like."

British Person: "Bloody Hell!"

Dante: "My money, or your life, if you please?" He tosses over the money and Irvine hands him the artifact.

Irvine: "I believe this has some information on control over healing magic, you could always use that in a medical scam."

British person: "Oh, that might have some merit…" He smiles and leaves, rubbing his hands together in glee.

Dante: "I think I'm going to be hired to kill that guy soon."

Acronos: "Not my mission.  See you."

Dante: "Maybe in another lifetime."

Trish: "Good luck kid, we'll be rooting for you." To make Maioko jealous, she kissed Acronos on the forehead.  This actually doesn't mean much, but Acronos fell spazzing, and Maioko proceeded to attempt to murder Trish.

Dante: "Almost makes me want a family of my own."

Acane: "Don't worry, we'll visit every so often." With that they returned to the gummi ship.

Maioko: "Where to now?"

Acronos: "(Bruised from falling onto floor heavily) Yeah, what's our itinerary?"

Acane: "Let's go for another world you guys probably know, the world of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time!"

Maioko: "Cool, I get to meet a princess and see a castle!"

Kairi: "Ahem?"

Maioko: "Sorry Kairi, I meant one of those old-fashioned princess', you know, with a castle..."

Acronos: "Hmm, I have a strange feeling of impending doom for me..."

Tidus: "Ocarina of Time?  Wasn't it the one with all those girls?" Everyone looks at him.

Tidus: "What, there was once that old guy from far away, and he let me play it!"

Acronos: "A bunch of girls?  Oh boy, now I see why my bad feeling's in place.  I'm probably gonna twitch myself into oblivion."

Acane: "Acronos, would you do me an immense favor and take off that kilt?"

Acronos: "(Knows full well what she means) Acane!  I never knew you liked me that way, but isn't that something you ask in private?" Her face turned extremely red.

Acronos: "Hah!  I finally managed to make someone blush instead of the other way around! (Cackles)"

Acane: "Oh yeah?  Return fire!" Auron sighed, prepared to stop her from attempting to kill Acronos, but was immensely surprised when she lunged at Maioko and ripped her shirt off.

Maioko: "AHH?!"

Acronos: "X_X (Dead) What is that flowery and lacy black thing on her chest? D: "Umm, let's just say it's something you'll eventually learn."" Maioko smacked Acronos, knocking him down, and then attempted to kill Acane.

Auron: "Does anyone have any idea how to fly this thing?  Acronos is incapacitated."

Tidus: "Actually he seems dead, and I got it." He throws the body from the seat, grabs the controls, and proceeds to aim them at the new world and flies off, at a sane speed.  After about ten minutes of flying, he's figured out where the guns are, and how to fly. 

  When they reached the new world, Maioko had Acane in some sort of hold and was causing her much pain, and Acronos was still lying on the floor like a sack of potatoes.  Tidus got up and began poking Acronos, hoping to awaken him.  Auron was attempting to pull Acane and Maioko away from each other, with half the remaining people helping him pull on Acane, and the other half grabbing Maioko and attempting to pull her off.

Tidus: "Is life ever normal with our group?"

Narrator: "Nope, life is never regular in a fanfic, that's just a rule of life."

Tidus: "Damn."

Maioko: "Where's that author, I'll kill him!"

Acronos: "(Still in the kilt, twitching)."

Riku: "I almost pity him."

Mal: "Do you now?"

Riku: "Ahh, keep away from me you homosexual freak!"

Mal: "First off, gays aren't all bad, secondly, I'm straight!"

Narrator: "And Riku was changed into a rendition of Lulu's outfit and Sienna laughed her ass off at him."

Riku: "Shut up Narrator."

Sora: "Hi, guys!"

Mal: "Oh, I have the perfect outfit for you!"

Riku: "Run while you still can, Sora!"

Narrator: "And run Sora did, but magic is faster, so he ended up looking like a school-girl."

Disclaimer: "Author took the ideas for the dresses from a fanfiction that he cannot remember… Mr. Destiny Islands perhaps?  Beep!"

Sora: "(Pouts) I don't like looking like a girl… It feels, odd… What's this? (Holds up a pink bra)"

Kairi: "Mal, I start to think you're more of a perverted straight guy than gay… Is that my bra?!"

Sora: "What's a bra?"

Acronos: "I don't know, but I think that's it, and girls seem to wear it around their chests."

Narrator: "Both stood there scratching their heads, wondering about females, and trying not to have their heads explode."

Lulu: "Hey Irvine, why haven't you made a single comment during all these scenes?"

Irvine: "Silence is golden, (Quietly) and in this case, safer."

Lulu: "Sigh."

Disclaimer: "Review, beep!  Press the little button to the lower left and write a response."