I liked where this chapter left off, so that's why it's a bit short.And 'cause of the whole MMORPG idea, the format will be … a little odd.

By the way, this story begins on Falaphesian's birthday– She put up with me, and that itself deserves an award… So, although the majority of us have already been awed by her astounding writing skills, if you haven't yet read any of her fics… You're, quite honestly, missing out.

And, now, on to the story!

…

Oh, the disclaimer:

DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts and all related characters, objects, conceptual designs and worlds belong solely to Square Enix and Disney. This is a fan produced work, of which the author is making no profit, and the bare bones of the plot are the only fundamental things that she may lay claim to.

X X X

World 2: Miza Craters

blitz.juggler Well, that was bo-ring. Not one sign of the port to World 3 – and we've been here for four weeks. Four weeks, Riku. Four weeks as in a month

sylver.scythe Tidus. Shut up. Do you see that crater?

blitz.juggler Uh, sure. There's only about a couple hundred out here. Oh, you mean the one that's spawning heartless?

sylver.scythe Sarcasm doesn't carry well over Voice Modification… Yeah, that one. Do you see the red portal in the middle?

blitz.juggler Of course Riku. I always stare at the middle of craters when mini-assassins whose only goal in life is to kill innocent players like me are spawning out. And you know what? I haven't saved since the Canal Courtyard – which means I'll lose that mythril blade I won.

sylver.scythe Then I suggest you run. Not that way - towards the portal. If we can make it, we can save the game there and log out. And we do have that blitzball game in an hour…

blitz.juggler No pressure, right? Nothing on stake besides what we've been trying to find for the last month… Last one there is… is… well, dead…

sylver.scythe Shall we?

Pulling out weapons, a mythril encrusted silver scythe and a lance, the duo weaved through the throng of 'Paradox Heartless'. Riku grinned, as he tightened his grip on the hilt of his scythe, bringing it up in a neat arc to slice through a nearby Wyvern, orange shoes skidding on the purple blood of his foe.

Nearby, Tidus lunged, twirling his olive-tinted lance before getting it stuck in the iron armor of a Soldier Heartless. Wincing at the metal-on-metal noise that came out of twisting the blade of the lance, which was stuck between the shoulder blade and shoulder armor of the heartless, he swiftly changed his hold on the weapon. Using it like a spear, he cleared a swarm of heartless, with the soldier heartless still embedded. Grimacing at the spurting maroon blood, he pulled the lance down, effectively disemboweling the writhing creature. He moved on, grumbling at the unsightly thick blood now sheeting the rocky ground of the craters.

Meanwhile, Riku had decided to completely annihilate a larger-than-life size heartless after it somehow managed to splatter purple blood across his digitally assembled clothes. He was well on his way to finishing it off, hacking and slicing through it, when a couple of his comrades made a decision of their own; to surround and kill the attacker of their companion.

Standing just inside the outer rim of the crater stood a whooping Tidus, pumping his fist into the air--having just saved his game. He turned around, not to find the expected sight of Riku waving, but to find the silver haired blur completely surrounded by an assortment of about twenty rotund, plus-sized heartless (possibly training to be sumo wrestlers) of which seemed to be doubling rapidly.

blitz.juggler Oh shit.

Tidus lunged, sprinting, towards the ring of heartless. He singled out a lumbering, vividly-clad one, jumping and jabbing his lance into its head, twisting it around, before pulling sharply down and out, at the same time pushing off and landing on the ground.

He continued on to the next heartless, this time cutting a ragged line through it's stomach. Jumping back, he pushed stray strands of his dark olive hair out of his eyes, focusing on the seven or so heartless that he had successfully drawn the attention of. As they ran at him, two with bloodied claws raised, he attacked, lance held in both hands, as it carved into the seemingly real flesh of the heartless.

While Tidus was occupied with his adversaries, Riku was having his own troubles with the heartless. They had developed some sort of strategy, weaker ones flinging themselves at him and larger and more powerful ones attacking while he fought to rid himself of the clinging menaces.

The blades, scythe and lance, were covered in synthetic blood, with pieces of heartless hide stuck in a nauseating pattern to the digital metal. The blood felt real, if a shade darker and with more of a purple tinge, as it smacked the puddles littering the ground. The owners of those drenched blades were clothed in an attire similarly covered in graphically-enhanced liquid.

Ignoring those normally-disturbing facts, they continued to attack and hack at their adversaries, focused on killing, and gaining more experience points.

X X X

Close by, yet unnoticed by the swarming masses of heartless, was a short, lone figure. Dark ebony attire clung to his scrawny form, a vivid contrast to his pale ashen complexion. His bronze tresses were held together by a simple band, with the exception of a few copper locks. Azure eyes gazed at the scene in front of them—a silver haired scythe-wielder was being attacked by a horde of advanced large body heartless, while a malachite-haired lance player was futilely trying to help defeat them off.

Were they beginning players? Or were they just incredibly foolish to take on heartless of this magnitude? With a sigh that sounded somewhat like a snort, he took off, revealing a cerulean short-blade. About fifty feet away from the nearest heartless, he momentarily paused his sprint upon hearing a bloodthirsty screech, a pained yell, and seeing a large spurt of fiery scarlet blood, accompanied by a momentarily blinding flash of light; unbearable in the usually monotonous darkness of the craters.

Uh oh. One of the players was dead now… That wasn't good for the odds. A swift glance revealed the slowly disintegrating newly-turned-gray corpse of the lance-player. Flinging his blade at the nearest creatures, he shrugged the player's death off. He was sure he had seen them save at the save point… or at least seen one of them save.

Leaping to retrieve his weapon, he quickly finished off a trio of dark assassins, slicing through their synthetic flesh and attacking the softer weak points. He smiled happily as a screen granting bonus points appeared for attacking that particular spot. He moved on, granting several other heartless a sweet and remotely painless death; that is, if they could feel pain.

Further mocking the heartless by wearing a confident grin, the lithe, dark-clad player went on, sending the writhing, black monsters on a trip to oblivion. Slashing past, he ensured slow deaths for some, while flinging his blade through others, killing them instantly.

In about fifteen minutes, with the combined efforts of the remaining two players, the craters were once more barren and desolate. Heading over to a bulging mass of purple wiggling slightly against the dark purplish blood of the heartless, the dark-clad entity knelt down, sharply turning his head when he heard a voice.

sylver.scythe Err… Thanks?

Standing up and turning to face the being who had spoken, he replied, blinking awkwardly at the player who was, in fact, taller than him.

beyondoblivion Anytime.

He crouched back down, returning his attention back to the questionable writhing substance. Prodding it from all four sides, he sighed, grimacing as he thrust his hand into it. The silver-haired scythe player watched on in bewilderment as the copper-haired player, who'd saved his virtual life, wiggled his hand around the inside of the purple mass of gelatin-like substance.

After a few tension filled moments, the savior withdrew his black-gloved hand with a quiet 'sluuurp'.While swiping awkwardly at the lumps of jelly coating his arm, he tried to explain the presence of a red orb clasped tightly in his fist.

beyondoblivion Found it. I knew it was a Sphere of Regeneration that made those heartless double like that!

sylver.scythe Oho. Thanks for the clarification. I could never have lived without knowing that.

beyondoblivion Hey, I saved your sorry ass back there!

sylver.scythe Sorry ass? Sorry ass? My ass is not sorry.

beyondoblivion Oh, my bad. You have a very happy ass. It is definitely not sorry.

With an angry swish of long silver locks, the scythe wielder crouched down next to the kneeling player, leaning on the mythril scythe for support. Eye contact was made, and they both looked furiously at each other, willing the other to turn away first. The scythe player broke off contact with a snort, in favor of glaring at the maroon orb.

sylver.scythe Alright, even though I could have taken on those heartless by myself, thanks for assisting me.

The words sounded ground out, and the copper-haired player nodded, grinning up at the scythe wielder.

sylver.scythe So, you were saying… That red ball makes things double?

beyondoblivion Well, I dunno. 'Regenerate' means to revive, so the orb would just revive them – but back there, you saw that they were doubling.

sylver.scythe Oho… So the whole doubling thing isn't normal?

beyondoblivion I don't think so, but I might just have the definition of 'Regenerate' wrong.

sylver.scythe Oh, shit!

beyondoblivion I beg your pardon?

sylver.scythe Sorry—I have a Blitzball game in about 15 minutes…

beyondoblivion No pro—Blitzball? So you live on the Islands?

sylver.scythe Yeah. On one of the outer ones, Oceania. Why? Do you?

beyondoblivion Yeah, on Fizu. You go to school over here, don't you? Since it is the main island?

sylver.scythe Fizu? That must be expensive… Wait - How'd you know I go to school? I could be a forty-year-old half-bald guy…

beyondoblivion Sure, a Blitzball playing forty-year-old… All the major teams are out, so only the high school teams and the private teams could be playing now.

The brunet watched as his new acquaintance blinked, before the statement actually sunk in.

Grumbling, she then stumbled onto her feet. Unsticking her scythe from where she'd stabbed it into the ground to lean on; she slung it over her shoulder, heading out to the portal to save. Reaching a hand out to the swirling gate, she supposedly saved as gate emitted a short, sharp light. The scythe player looked over her shoulder one last time, blinking over at the short brunet.

He stood up, pushing up on one leather-covered arm, grinning and waving back at her. Tossing the mesmeric crimson orb from hand to hand, he watched as the player logged off, the pixilated colors fading into the background of the craters.

After hearing the familiar chime to indicate a player logging off, he was left staring at where she had been a few minutes earlier.

beyondoblivion A female Blitzball playing forty-year-old?

X X X

This chapter has been edited after being reread about a hundred times, and finding all these things wrong with it…

Like the previous characterization of beyondoblivion would never have worked… I don't know what I was thinking.

Also, there was a pretty format before, but now it seems that doesn't support symbols that well… So, you have a bunch of bold names. Not as pretty, but it works.

And, in case anyone wants to beta for a ridiculous little writer with sporadic updates, and random plotlines dancing around… I'm open!

Yes... So let's hope that this update added some length onto the painfully short chapter of before.

(Oh, and since it is an update, I'd like to thank all my reviewers. You're what keep me motivated!

Okay, I lied. Nothing motivates my sorry ass.)

Oof. I mean, I'll update if you review! Yes, that's how it goes… Writers are supposed to grovel for reviews, aren't they?

And to all my silent readers, I love you very, very much. Because you know I just wasted a load of your time.

Ehehe.