FG: Welcome back to CC2! Sorry the update took so long…since most of you reviewers are older than me, I bet you remember how rough school was in 7th grade…I need to get good grades to go to a good high school, like Whitney Young, or Walter Payton, or-

Robin: SHADDUP AN' GET ON WIT THE CHAPTER!

FG: Aren't you supposed to be near-dead?

Robin: Aw, yeah…I mean, fizz! (head lolls to one side)

Everyone else: (sweatdrop)

FG: …anyway, the chapters might not come so quickly for a while. But I'll make up for quantity with quality!

Kaen: Whoo!

Riku: (glares) Weren't you the one with the sign that said "Eclipse x Emma 4Ever" at the end of that one chapter?

Kaen: Yep! (waves sign around proudly)

Riku: I'll clobber you!

FG: Down, boy. (grabs Riku's neck) Heel.

Riku: (groans)

FG: Please welcome Chapter 17's disclaimer guest, -+Flame of Darkness+-, also known as Kaen.

Random people: (clap)

Guy with a monotone: Whoo. (pitifully throws confetti)

Kaen: Ooh, a guy with a monotone! (pokes guy)

Guy with a monotone: Whoo.

Robin: Jus' entertain us an' leave, ya moron.

Everyone else: (stares)

Robin: I mean, FIZZ!

Kaen: She's weird.

Dia: You have no idea.

FG: Can you hurry up a bit?

Kaen: Okay! I like Sora, Heartless, Sora, Heartless, Sora, Heartless, Sora, Heartless, Sora when he was a Heartless…

Everyone else: (sweatdrop)

Sora: (backs away slowly)

FG: Um…anything else not related to Kingdom Hearts?

Kaen: Oh, and I like POKING RANDOM PEOPLE! (sharply pokes guy with a monotone)

Guy with a monotone: Whoo.

Kaen: (pokes)

Guy with a monotone: Whoo.

Kaen: (pokes)

Guy with a monotone: Whoo.

Kaen: (pokes)

Guy with a monotone: Whoo.

FG: As interesting as this is, can you say the disclaimer now?

Kaen: But I wanna poke the guy with a monotone!

FG: (glares)

Kaen: Fine, fine… FG doesn't own anyone except for Emma, Dia, Jake, Robin, Bernie, Coeur/Hart, Miaow, Haiiro, Eclipse, Taylor, Lyze, Silke, Kinzoku, Sadym, Alissa, and Miru.

FG: Now, was that so hard?

Kaen: Yes.

FG: (mumbles something under her breath) Ahem. Just go back to poking the guy with a monotone, will you?

Kaen: MY DREAM! IT'S COMING TRUE!

Guy with a monotone: Whoo.

Kaen: (pokes)

Guy with a monotone: Whoo.

Kaen: (pokes)

Guy with a monotone: Whoo.

Kaen: (pokes)

Guy with a monotone: Whoo.

FG: (sighs heavily) Here's Chapter 17.

… … … … … … … … …

"Well, isn't this a nice change of pace?" Larxene remarked. Everyone except her and Sadym were staring in horror at Robin, who was still smoking on the ground of Twilight Town. "You guys just ignore me and attack each other instead. It'll save me a load of much-needed time."

Sadym growled, panting. "Oh, shut up," he mumbled to the woman. "I'm going to attack you next."

"No, you aren't!" Lyze grabbed Sadym's wrist again. "You're sitting this one out!"

"Why?"

Bernie was the first Senshi to regain the ability to speak. "You…you practically killed one of our teammates!"

Sadym lightly kicked Robin with his boot, who responded with a quiet moan. "Well, she's alive, isn't she?" Lyze and Bernie just glared at him. "What?"

"How do we wake her up?" Lyze asked stiffly, slipping the machina bracelet off Robin's wrist. "Robin may be a pain, but she's a good fighter, and we need her."

With a heavy sigh, Sadym took Robin's arms and dragged her a few yards away. "I'll take care of it…you fight."

Larxene stuck her lower lip out and gazed disapprovingly over the Juu Senshi. "I liked watching you guys gang up on each other. Oh, well…" In one rapid movement, Larxene took out her electricity-charged kunai knives and tossed them at the Juu Senshi. "…time to fight!"

Axel smirked. "Finally, we agree on something." He tossed a chakram at his former comrade, then ran back to the others. "We should use water now, but our only fighters that can perform water spells are busy either glaring at Sadym or helping Robin, right?"

Sadym was kneeling over Robin and fiddling with the remote. "E cdemm tuh'd caa fro oui kioc yna cu fungat ib ypuid drec." He glanced up at Bernie and Lyze. "E sayh, huputo naymmo megat ran eh dra vencd bmyla, dra ihknydavim meddma…" His voice trailed off, cursing in Al Bhed.

"Basically," Emma responded to Axel.

"Then our best bet is doing various attacks. You know, normal attacks, like swordfighting…" He nodded to Silke, who nodded back. "…psychic attacks…pure genius, by the way, kid…" Axel gave Eclipse a wide grin, then continued. "…and Emma's grey stone."

Emma smiled and unthreaded the Guard Stone. "I've been waiting forever to use Steel Angel again!"

Larxene's voice shot across the floor. "Hey, I'm still here!" she scoffed. "Aren't you going to do something?"

Jake advanced towards Larxene with his hand in a pointing gesture, but Dia held him back. "I think we can do without the prodding for this boss, Jake."

"Myeh."

"STEEL ANGEL!" Emma's eyes and shirt became a pastel grey. She looked around. "Great…just great."

Eclipse raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

Emma sighed heavily. "I don't have that metal pole I bought from the Item Shop! I need something that's…"

"Animate!"

A loud, aluminum-like, ripping sound came out of nowhere. "…metal?" Jake proudly handed Emma an elongated cylinder he tore from a nearby lamppost. "Um…okay…" Emma spun it like a baton, then held it out towards Larxene. "You're going down, Blondie!"

"Well, well, well! This is getting interesting!" Larxene teleported behind Emma and placed a kunai knife under her neck. "Any last words?"

Eclipse teleported behind Larxene. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Larxene's right hand started glowing purple, and it jerked away from Emma neck, though it almost sliced her. "Eclipse!" she whined. "Be a little more careful next time!"

"It worked, didn't it?" The Nekoshu gave her a brief, apologetic smile, then bounded off towards the café. Eclipse executed a catlike jump and landed on its roof. "Axel!" he called.

Axel looked up. "Yeah?"

"Is Larxene vulnerable to stories about moo-cows imploding?"

The red-head stifled a laugh as he replied, "Sadly, no. You got any other parlor tricks?"

Eclipse frowned. "Parlor tricks? I'll show YOU parlor tricks! SHINZOU NIKUSHIMI!" A shadowy figure came out of his hand, then landed on the ground. "Attack!"

The shadow lightened, and took the form of what appeared to be a fully-grown Nekoshu. However, there were some eerie differences. Nekoshus had black, whisker-like stripes of paint on their cheeks. His were red. Instead of being shiny, his eyes were dim and yellow. Under his eyes laid deep bags. And instead of single-bead earrings with a fang attached, the decoration was a tiny Heartless insignia. But the scariest part were his limbs. His head was fine, as was his chest, but his arms and legs were skinless, and only rotting bones remained. The creature roared loudly and showed his feline fangs to Larxene, who was thoroughly freaked-out.

Axel clapped. "You never cease to surprise me, kid. You're only a teenager, and yet you can summon illusions of the Nikushimi."

"Myew!" Coeur, who was still perched on Bernie's shoulder, meowed happily.

Emma took a break from bashing the stiff Larxene with her lamppost piece. "Huh? What's a Nikushimi?"

"Well, first of all, you should back up." Axel motioned for Emma to follow him as the Nikushimi image started to attack Larxene. "Okay, this should be good enough."

"So, what exactly is a Nikushimi? And why do they look like Nekoshus? And why do YOU know about them?"

Axel put a hand on his head. "Slow down. One question, one answer, then I'll move on. 'Nikushimi' means 'the hated ones'. They're the enemies of the Nekoshus, even though they're closely related races. You know that Nekoshus are half cat, half human, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the Nikushimi are half cat, half Heartless."

Emma nodded. "Okay. So how do you know about them?"

"I traveled the Hollow Bastion floor with DiZ, once. I've never been to Hollow Bastion personally, but DiZ has. The Nekoshus and the Nikushimi were warring until four years ago. Eclipse's grandfather started the war, somehow. His father continued it. When both of them died, making Eclipse the new chief, he stopped it, and signed a peace treaty of sorts. Though the races still loathed each other, they agreed to stay out of each other's ways."

"And part of the deal was the spell Shinzō Nikushimi," Emma finished. "I get it."

Axel nodded. "Quite diplomatic for being only eleven at the time," he mused.

Emma's eyes widened. "Eleven? Wow." She looked at Eclipse again, this time in admiration, not confusion. "That's incredible."

"Yeah, well…oh!" He smirked as he saw Larxene crumble to the ground. "Gotta go stick a shuriken in that." Axel chucked both fire shurikens into the woman's back.

Larxene glared at him. "How…how is this possible? I lost…and to a little boy!"

Eclipse leapt off the café roof as Emma chuckled. "He's not a little boy, he's the Chief of the Nekoshus!"

"Well, just you wait!" Larxene snarled. "Not even a KING could stand up to Marluxia! That's right, he's your next opponent! And he'll crush you all! HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" Her ringing cackle still lingered as she disintegrated.

Dia started sweating. "Marluxia? The head honcho of the castle?" She checked her watch. It read 4:00 PM. "Five hours until the fireworks display starts…we'd better hurry this up!"

"Aw, shaddup, Quinn…" a faint, weak voice complained. "…five hours…is plenty 'a time…"

Bernie let out a stream of air in a relieved sigh. "Robin's awake."

Robin sat up groggily. Her face and clothes were still charred. "Why wouldn't I be awake…Loony…?" With a groan, she rubber her head. "Ugh…what didjya do ta me, punk?"

Sadym glared. "Are you trying to annoy me, or are you just plain stupid?" Robin scowled and brushed some ashes off. "I electrocuted you because you were being a jerk! And you're still a jerk! Don't you get it? You make us sick!" he yelled. "Ask anyone in this group! Deep down inside, maybe even on the stinkin' surface for everyone to see! You all make us sick, and we have no idea why Haiiro picked you, because you're a lousy, bullying, JERK!"

The rest of the Juu Senshi member's faces fell. Even Bernie looked guilty. "It's…sort of true, Robin…I'm sorry…" She wrung her hands. "…you always call me Loony…and you have ever since I met you. It gets a little annoying…y'know?"

"You are kinda bossy," Jake murmured. "And you hate us. A lot. Don't…don't deny it…myeh." The more he said, the more depressed he got.

Dia put her hands on her hips. "I never liked you, Fuudo, so I have no problem agreeing." Still, she looked a little sad. "You really are a jerk. A complete and total…jerk." Her voice faltered when she finished. "Oh, man…"

Lyze covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, man…" she echoed. "…I never thought I'd see this…"

Throughout the short speeches, Robin had begun shuddering. They thought she had been shaking with rage, since they couldn't see her face. Now, everyone could see it, no matter how much they wanted to pretend they couldn't.

Because Robin…was crying.

Tears streamed down her cheeks, while some remained hovering in her watery eyes; she didn't even bother to rub them away. She remained sitting, not moving a muscle, except for her slightly quivering mouth. "R-r-robin?" Sadym stuttered. He seemed to have difficulty forming his next sentence. "Are you…" he swallowed. "…okay?" Robin said nothing, just let out little sobs.

"We're sorry, Robin," Goofy said sympathetically. "We just thought you were evil!" This made Robin cry harder.

Sadym pursed his lips, then picked up the machina bracelet. He forced it onto his own wrist, then handed the remote to Robin. She stopped shuddering and looked up. "Wh-what're ya doin'? That's what ya used ta shock me, innit?"

"Yes," Sadym answered quietly.

"Why're ya givin' it ta me?"

The Al Bhed looked stoically at Robin. "I want you to electrocute me."

"WHAT?" she yelled. "Whadda ya want me ta do that fer?"

Sadym scratched his head. "I electrocuted you. If you want, you can electrocute me. I should've known that you weren't so bad…it's a bad habit, nothing more, right?"

"What?"

"Being so tough. It's a habit. You wanted to hide your softer identity from your biker friends. Then, your fake image stuck."

Robin frowned. "Well…maybe…"

Dia smiled. "I get it now. Why else would Haiiro pick her? Fuudo had to be a total good guy at one point. I mean…" She extended her hand to help the other girl up. "…Robin."

"Eh…okay…" Robin held onto Dia's hand, then hoisted herself up. "…thanks…Dia."

Jake also smiled, then lightly poked Robin. "Does this mean I'm not going to be called Quinn Jr. anymore? 'Cause I don't like it."

"Nah, now I'm gonna call ya plain ol' Quinn."

"Myeh…"

"Just kiddin', Jake." Robin grinned and ruffled the little boy's hair. She looked back at Sadym. "Hey, you!" He looked up. "Keep yer weirdo remote. I didn't really wanna shock ya anyway." She tossed it back.

Sadym raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yep."

"OAC!" he hollered. Sadym grinned, then wrenched off the machina bracelet. He brought his foot down hard on top of it. "OAC! DRYHG OUI CU SILR! DRYHG OUI, DRYHG OUI, DRYHG OUI! Oui fuh'd naknad drec, E'mm cdub lnaydehk amypunyda bmyhc du tacdnuo oui yht syga oui byo, palyica oui'na YFACUSA, Robin, E sayh ed! Ur, DRYHG OUI, DRYHG OUI, DRYHG OUI! YMM NEKRD! HU CRULGEHK! HU CRULGEHK! HU CRULGEHK!"

Robin chuckled. "Hu bnupmas, pek kio. Zicd cdub oammeh', kud ed? Oan rindeh' so aync."

Everyone else stared blankly at Robin. "Since when can you speak Al Bhed?" Lyze asked nervously.

Bernie glanced at her, then at Robin, then chuckled. "Since I told her to say that about ten seconds ago," she replied.

"Yeah…but I still dun get what that stuff even means," Robin added sourly.

"Neither do I," a voice said. "So I suggest you stop."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Just come out and fight…"

Marluxia appeared on the ground. "Someone should really talk to you about your manners, or lack thereof."

"Someone should really talk to you deviators and those expository essays you spew before fights," Axel advised him. "So, are we going to fight, or what?" Marluxia stayed still and silent. "Oh, yeah…you want to fight Sora alone, don't you? I thought so, considering how much you were planning to stalk him. For a while, I thought you-"

"Bring me the elementalist," Marluxia spoke up.

Emma cautiously stepped forward. "Why?"

Marluxia crossed his arms. "The Keyblade Master is vital to the plot…but he is no longer the protagonist. YOU are the protagonist. And as keeper of Castle Oblivion, I must fight you."

Staring blankly into hyperspace, Emma didn't know whether to cheer or cower behind Sora and the rest of Juu Senshi. "I'm…the main person now?"

"I believe that is what I have just told you."

"Got it…so I have to fight you?"

"I believe I have said THAT too."

Emma laughed nervously. "Oh…yeah."

Sora chuckled, then whispered, "I guess becoming the most important member got to her…I however, could handle it fine."

Riku rolled his eyes. "She's stalling," he explained, then pointed behind the girl. A faint, yellowish mist hovered there, growing deeper by the second. "See?"

"So…I really AM the main person…?" Emma repeated awkwardly.

Marluxia furrowed his brows. "YES!" he yelled.

Emma took another step forward, and ripped off the Thunder Stone. "In that case…" She gave the trenchcoat-clad man a smirk. "…INAZUMA!"

"HYAH!" Marluxia stabbed the ground with his pink scythe. It split open, and a silver machine glided out. He smoothly leaped in. "Now you will see the true power of Organization XIII!"

Two golden fans appeared in Emma's hands, coursing with electricity. "Huh?" She glanced down at them. "Last time I used this attack, I didn't have fans…"

"It doesn't matter!" Robin called. "Jus' use 'em!"

Emma nodded, then spun in a tight circle, like a Japanese fan dancer. "Thundaga!"

Marluxia's machine was shocked with legions of lightning bolts that came out of the fans. A few screws popped out. "This machine was expensive to make!" he lamented. "I suppose I'll have to get serious, then…" He pounded on a button, and pink, feathery things came out.

"Oh, great." The feathers hardened to a point and flew past Emma. "Thundaga!"

The next round of bolts got dangerously close to him. One hit him in the forehead, prompting him to screech loudly. "You will pay for that, elementalist!" He hit another button, then hovered ten feet above Emma. A spike embedded in the bottom of the machine tried to stab her. "Try to dodge this!"

Emma put on a resolute face and hopped around at…well, lightning speed. "Whoa!" On its seventh try, the spike caught Emma's shoulder. She fell down, clamping onto the wound.

"Are you ready to give up, elementalist?" Marluxia sneered. "Pity…I thought you were stronger than this."

The yellow girl stood up shakily. "I am, and I'll prove it to you!"

Jake waved his arms frantically. "Emma! Give me your fans!"

"What? Why? I need them!"

"I have a plan to beat him!" Emma cautiously tossed him her fans. "I need your sword, too, Riku." Riku passed him the Soul Eater. "All right!"

Emma swerved between the spike jabs, then turned to Jake again. "Are you almost done?"

"Yep!" Jake proudly held up two strange-looking swords. The blade looked like the Soul Eater, except it was yellow. The fans served as the hilt, and the curved symbol of the Ikiteiru Shield was emblazoned on them. He tossed them back to Emma.

"Well, this looks cool…"

"Try to block the spike with them!"

The spike on Marluxia's machine dove at Emma again. "Okay…" Instead of piercing through the paper fan like Emma expected it to, a wave of gold light made the spike retract. "Cool!" Emma held out the swords. "Thundaga!" More bolts flew at Marluxia. Soon, he tumbled out of the machine.

"Yes!" Dia cheered. "Way to go, Emma!"

"We're not done," she informed her step-sister-to-be. She looked back at Axel. "It's your turn."

Axel shook his head. "Nah, you can finish him off."

"Okay." Emma raised both swords, then plunged them into Marluxia.

A pained look crossed Marluxia's face. "Well…you are stronger than I…anticipated…elementalist…"

Emma grinned, while her eyes and shirt returned to normal. "You bet!"

"But…there are more members in the Organization…they will want revenge, you can be sure of it…"

"Yeah, we kinda figured that."

Marluxia glared at her as he started to fade, as did the machine. "Even if you defeat Guardian, the Organization will remain. So do not get your hopes up. You may save your own world…but can you save this one?" And with than, he completely disintegrated.

Riku sighed. "We're going to need to do more fighting after we save the U.S.?" he asked.

Goofy winced. "I don't know…but how hard can these Organization fellers be?"

"We won't know until Kingdom Hearts II comes out," Bernie announced sadly. "And if they're the new bad guys, they'll probably be really hard."

"No use worrying about it now, though!" Emma grinned and walked away. "We have to get to the next floor!"

… … …

"Where are we now?" Silke asked impatiently. "We had better be close to the top floor…"

Jake sniffed the air. "It smells like cinnamon! And rabbits!"

Sadym raised an eyebrow. "It smells…like rabbits?"

"Yeah! Look at all the rabbits walking around!" he squealed.

"Those aren't rabbits, Jake." Dia lightly whacked him in the head. "Those are vieras!" She was right. The town was swarming with vieras, wearing intricate clothes of all sorts. "We must be in Muscadet."

"Huh?" Jake scratched his head.

Dia made a clucking noise with her tongue. "Muscadet," she repeated. "It's a town in Ivalice, where all the Vieras live."

"Guys, look!" Emma whispered. Among all of the fancily-dressed Vieras, a young one wearing pure-white robes and clutching a thick staff trotted down the street. She was humming an unidentified tune, and grinning at her surroundings. She was acting like someone else Emma knew…

"Hey, isn't that…" Jake started.

"I think that's…" Donald also trailed off.

Lyze grinned, gaining the same look the young White Mage had. "That's me!"

… … … … … … … … …

FG: That was Chapter 17! Now it's official; CC2 is the same size as CC!

Sora: I thought CC was 18 chapters long…

FG: Yeah, but that included the bonus chapter.

Guy with a monotone: Whoo.

Kaen: (is still poking him)

Robin: Yer a really annoyin' me, kid, ya know that?

Kaen: (nods and pokes Robin)

Robin: AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH! GET IT OFFA ME!

Kaen: Who're you calling an 'it'? (pokes Robin harder)

Robin: AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!

Everyone else: (sweatdrop)

FG: Um…okay. FG out, yo.