DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything copyrighted in this story.

---CROSSING PATHS---

-We're All In This Together-

As the white light cleared, Corey looked around. "Sharon?" He called. "SHARON!"

"I'm right here!" Sharon said. She picked herself up off the ground, and walked over to him. "Where are we?"

The sky was a mix of purple and green. The floor had a strange red, blue, and orange grid pattern. Lightning bolts occasionally struck the ground. They were apparently on a large plain, since the ground seemed to stretch on forever.

"How do we get out of here?" Corey asked Sharon.

Sharon examined their options. They could explore, but she didn't know where they would get food or water. They could wait, but the same problems arose from that as well. It looked pretty bleak.

"Hey, you two!" A voice shouted. The two looked around. Who said that? "Yes, you two! Freeze!" The two kids turned around. A fox clad in a police uniform pointed a pistol at them. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Sharon was too shocked to speak, and Corey couldn't find anything to say. They just stood there with open mouths and a very confused face. They knew that fox! It was Carmelita!

Suddenly, a raccoon blazed by both of them, and stood behind them. "Evening, Inspector," he said.

"Sly Cooper!" The fox yelled, ignoring Sharon and Corey. "Get over here now!"

Suddenly, Sharon couldn't take it any longer. "HOLD IT!" she screamed. "What the heck is going on? I know both of you, but you shouldn't exist!" She stopped, taking a few deep breaths. Carmelita and Sly both stopped.

"What?" they said together.

Corey took over. "You two are video game characters," he said simply, although he looked pretty panicked.

Before Carmelita or Sly could say anything, gunfire shattered the air. Everyone ducked, and Sharon screamed. They saw a man and a woman in some sort of futuristic outfits.

One of them called to the group, "Surrender or fight!" The woman fired a warning shot into the air.

"Surrender, SURRENDER!" Carmelita shouted. "Just don't shoot!" She hated these kinds of situations.

The two futuristic people walked over, with their guns at the ready. The four stayed in their positions as the two examined them.

"Don't worry, Jim," The woman said. "These four don't look like any kind of threat."

"As long as they're not Zerg, Sarah," the man said. They both put their guns in an 'at ease' position.

Corey gasped. This was getting all too weird. He gulped, and then said, "Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor?"

Both suddenly had their guns out again at Corey's head. "How do you know who we are?" Sarah said sharply.

"You're in a video game," was all he said.

Sarah and Jim reeled back. "What?" Jim yelled. "Impossible!"

Suddenly, they could hear a scream.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Two men and a woman fell from the sky. The man in red fell with a loud, "OOOOOOAAAAAAAPH!" The man in green fell right on top of him. The woman, who was dressed in pink, fell on top of both of them.

"Oh, hello," The woman said, apparently unhurt by using the human cushions. "I am her majesty Princess Deanne Peach, and you are…?"

Sharon fainted on the spot.

"Oh dear god!" Corey yelled. "Then they must be…"

"Mario!"

"And Luigi!"

"At your service!"

Corey almost fainted along with Sharon. The other characters looked on in amazement as a boy about Corey's Age in a green tunic walked up.

"Do any of you know where Termina is? I appear to be a bit lost. I'm Link."

"Oh geez…" Corey said. He woke Sharon up, and they were just in time for the next arrival.

"Corey, look!" Sharon yelled. She pointed to a boy, a duck, and a dog. "It's Sora, Donald, and Goofy!"

Hearing their names, they walked over.

"Who are you?" Sora asked. "And how does she know my name?"

"Long story," Jim said, starting to catch on. "Probably one you don't want to hear."

Donald looked over Sora's shoulder. "Hey, who do you think you're looking at, buster!" he shouted to Carmelita. A quick shot with the shock pistol, and Donald was careful not to say anything again.

Luigi turned around, and screamed. "WHAAAA!"

Everyone looked in that direction.

"I don't believe it!" Sora said. "It's the three from Hollow Bastion."

Three girls waved to Sora from about 50 feet away.

They began running towards them.

"Who are they?" Link asked.

"Sharon!" Corey said. "It's Yuna, Rikku, and Paine!"

They looked at the rapidly approaching girls.

"Sora!" Yuna yelled. "What's going on?" The three girls met with the rest of the group. They looked at the strange assortment of characters. "Who are all of these people?"

Corey was about to answer when two MORE people appeared next to the group. The girl appeared to be unconscious, but the man was awake.

"Who are you and where are we?"

Sharon's eyes widened. She had played DDR enough to know that these people were…"Rage and Emi!" she yelled suddenly. Everyone but Corey was surprised. Rage was definitely shocked, and just shook his head.

"Well," Corey started. "I think everyone is here. The lightning bolts have stopped."

"Ok then," Sharon said. "That means we have…

Corey

Sharon

Sly Cooper

Carmelita

Jim Raynor

Sarah Kerrigan

Mario

Luigi

Princess Peach

Link

Sora

Donald Duck

Goofy

Yuna

Rikku

Paine

Rage

Emi

And except for us, they are all video game characters!"

Unfortunately, she said that just loud enough for everyone else to hear. Gasps all around, and a near-collapse for Rikku.

"Well, we've got to work together," Corey sighed. "Everyone has an equal status and everyone has an equal say. I have no clue why we are here, but it is screwed up!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Corey suddenly spilled some change. He and Sharon bent down to pick it up. Without warning, a voice rang out.

"Welcome to the game, ladies and gentlemen."

Everyone looked around for the speaker. Sharon and Corey stayed down.

"Oh, you won't find me. So don't try. You are all now subjects to the game. A game made of your games. The sixteen of you will be divided, and then you will finish my adventure. If you succeed, you will be returned to your games. If not, you might not want to know."

Sharon and Corey's eyes widened in fear.

"You will get clues to a certain game. Then, you must use a device called, the Controllerpath, which I will give to each team. If you complete all of the challenges, I will release all of you. I give you everything you need to survive, but you must use it."

After that the voice stopped speaking. Two Controllerpaths appeared on the ground a few feet away.

"Everybody hold it," Corey commanded. "The man said 'the 16 of you.'"

"Right, Corey!" Sharon continued. "Whoever set you guys up made a mistake: he brought us in by accident and doesn't know it!"

Rage spoke up. "We still have several problems. One, Emi is out cold, and has no intentions of waking up soon. Two, we don't know anything about the other worlds unless we came from that world. Three, how the heck are we going to figure out those clues?"

Sharon flashed a smile. "That's exactly why the mistake he made was such a bad one. We know about all of your video games and can easily solve his puzzles!"

Corey then ordered everyone. "We'll make two teams with me on one and Sharon on the other. They will be…

Team One

Corey

Sly Cooper

Carmelita

Mario

Luigi

Princess Peach

Jim Raynor

Sarah Kerrigan

Rage

Team Two

Sharon

Yuna

Rikku

Paine

Link

Sora

Donald

Goofy

Emi

That's how we'll divide the teams," Corey finished.

"Ok then," Link said. "We have to start now. Who knows how long this could take?"

"Just remember," Yuna said.

"We're all in this together!" Luigi finished.

"That's not what I was going to say, but it's good!" Yuna laughed.

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It's LONG, I know, but the challenge shall begin! Next chapter, at least…Keep reviewing. You're feedback changes the story!