A/N: This is a very long chapter that deals with music. Suggestions-----go to and download "groove2001" and "la señorita virtual." Then go to and search the simfile database for "xepher" and "max. (period)." Download them. Listen to them when the song is mentioned in the story.

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

---CROSSING PATHS---

-The Poetry of the Foot-

-----Dance First. Think later. It's the natural order. (Samuel Beckett)-----

Corey picked up one of the Controllerpaths. "Ok," he said, looking over the device. "This is how we will get from world to world."

The Controllerpath was shaped like a PSP but twice its size. It had a joystick on the left and four buttons, X, Circle, Square, and Triangle, on the right. The center had a screen. The first clue was beamed into it.

On a sexy planet far away

You must closely listen

Where the notes are here to stay

Absolute they glisten

.59, 321 Stars, and rstuV,

You have to MAX out your soul

And come and groove with me.

"This doesn't take Sharon to figure it out!" Corey smiled triumphantly. As the characters watched, he moved the joystick until the words "Dance Dance Revolution" appeared on the screen.

He pushed X.

The world swirled around Team 1 as the world dropped out from under them as it did to bring them to the plain.

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Princess Peach screamed. "LOOK AT ME!" Everyone turned to her. Mario's eyes went as round as moons. Luigi whistled. Corey's hand went to his mouth. Peach was wearing a pink tube top, white clogs, and a yellow mini-skirt. Peach had NEVER shown so much skin. "What would Toadsworth think!" she cried in despair.

"Get used to it," growled Sarah. She was dressed in a red halter-top, tight-fitting blue jeans, and orange high-heels.

Rage looked at himself. His hair was shorter, and he had a cap on. His vest was gone to show an orange jacket and a white shirt underneath. Jeans and hiking boots finished his outfit. Even though this was his game, he looked different.

Corey was wearing a green t-shirt and walking shorts along with his regular sneakers.

Jim was in a sleeveless white shirt and cargo pants. He also had combat boots.

Mario and Luigi were both wearing sweatshirts and baseball caps in their respective colors. Two pairs of jeans and Converses finished their outfits. "He-a must change our-a outfits to a-match the game." Mario offered.

Sly (who had a brown shirt, jeans shorts, and blue Vans) looked over at Carmelita (who was wearing a purple spaghetti-strap top, purple platform shoes, and Daisy Dukes). "What are you thinking about, Montoya?" Carmelita whirled around.

"Supernova."

"Pardon?"

"I don't know," Carmelita said. "It just popped into my head."

Corey looked over. "Hang on a minute. Did you say 'Supernova?'"

Carmelita nodded.

"Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA!" He shouted. "Of course!" Corey went over the facts in his mind. Sharon had been surfing the web about DDR SuperNOVA for a month now. From her ranting about it, he knew a lot of details by heart. The platform they were standing on was green, and they were surrounded on all sides by a red grid. It looked a lot like the Select Screen. "That's why you look different Rage," Corey said. "You get that look in DDR SuperNOVA."

Corey had set the Controllerpath down, but now, Sarah had picked it up. "Hmmmm…" she said in wonderment. "I wonder what this does." She pushed X. The Controllerpath sprung to life. No one noticed.

"Select your Style!" Sarah turned down the volume, and then hid the device behind her back as Rage, Sly, Peach and Jim looked over. After a bit, they looked away. She wanted to keep this to herself.

"Single player!"

"Select difficulty!" 'What is DDR really?' She wondered. She didn't really know how to play.

"Light Mode!"

"Select Music!"

A screen came up with a list of songs. She began toggling the joystick to move through the list. There were a LOT of songs. "Hmmm…this one looks good," she said quietly, as she moved to 'groove2001.'

"1st Stage!"

Everyone was suddenly on a DDR pad. Everyone looked at Sarah, who was holding the Controllerpath with a very dumb look on her face. "Oh god…" was all she could say.

Can all that bootie be all yours? GROOVE!

Those lyrics jolted everyone back into focus. Everyone had arrows projected in front of them. "Play the game!" Corey called. "When the arrows reach the top, step on the corresponding arrow!"

Everyone had the hang of it, since it was Light difficulty, and Rage was freestyling like there was no tomorrow.

After the song ended, Sly used his thief skills to quickly snatch the Controllerpath away from Sarah. "What on earth where you THINKING!" he yelled.

She smiled meekly and murmured, "I was just fooling around." Everyone sighed. If this kept up, they would never finish the challenges. Carmelita looked at the Controllerpath, and decided to try something.

"Select Music!"

"Everyone get ready," she warned. "I'm selecting another song." She pushed the toggle to one side and stopped. "Ok, the song is La Señorita Virtual." She pushed X.

"2nd Stage!"

Again, everyone went to a DDR pad. This time, the steps were faster and more intense. Jim tripped and missed a few, while Mario and Luigi bumped into one another.

"It's-a no good!" Luigi yelled. "I can't keep up!" After a few more steps, he fell down and he failed the song.

He disappeared. "LUIGI!" Everyone yelled. As the song ended, they looked over to see a cage dangling over the edge of the platform. Inside was Luigi.

"Help! Get-a me out of here!"

Peach didn't know what to do. Mario was Luigi's brother, and Mario and her were engaged! If she didn't do something, Mario would hate her for the rest of his life.

"Select Music!"

Rage was dumbfounded. Nothing like this had ever happened before. He picked up the Controllerpath and began toggling through songs. What happened next astonished him even more. Peach blazed by him.

"I'M COMING, LUIGI!" Peach screamed. She was going to see if she could force open the cage somehow. Unfortunately, she stumbled, and a chunk of the platform flew out from under her feet and pressed X on the Controllerpath.

"Final Stage!"

Before Peach could get to Luigi, everyone was zapped to another pad. Rage looked down at the song he had picked by accident. It was Xepher.

"Rage!" Corey called. "What song did it pick?"

"Xepher!"

Corey tensed himself, as did the remaining members of Team 1. The organ music blared as steps floated towards the top. Then Corey noticed something that no one else had. Rage had accidentally bumped the difficulty up to HEAVY! The steps intensified, and Sarah dropped out quickly. She appeared in the cage by Luigi. Soon, Peach, Jim, and Mario dropped out, too. And Sly and Carmelita simply could not complete the streams. That left only Rage and Corey. Corey was on the verge of failing.

"C'mon!" he urged. "C'MON!" He was on the last string, he could make it!"

BOO!

He had missed the last step.

He had not made it.

He had failed.

He was surrounded by light, as he felt lurched off the ground. Then he fell onto the other people. He was inside the cage with the rest of Team 1.

"God dangit," Corey muttered. Everyone looked very forlorn, until Carmelita realized a very important fact.

"Where is Rage?"

Corey's eyes lit up and he looked out onto the platform. Rage was still standing there with the Controllerpath. "I won't let you down!" he yelled. Everyone watched as he began walking toward them. It had been the final round, and he should be able to release them.

Suddenly, he stopped.

Words flashed through the sky.

Try Extra Stage!

Rage gulped. He had gotten a AA on Xepher. Now he would have to play one more round before the end. He looked at the area where the arrows would normally be projected.

It instead showed the Controllerpath screen. Rage was about to push X when a creaking sound caught his attention. He turned in horror to see the cage's chain creaking under the weight of the eight people it was supporting. If he failed…he would certainly tip the scales, cause the chain to break, and send them all to their deaths.

He pushed X. He had pushed "RANDOM."

The screen disappeared, but no arrows appeared. Then he realized because Extra Stage always had Dark on, which hid the step zone from view.

With horror he realized the background of the song. It showed a DDR mat rugged from use. In the middle, it simply said, "Why do you need…?"

Corey's blood ran cold. He knew that song. It was a phrase Sharon often used. He whispered, "Why do you need Konami original songs?" Several characters looked at him in confusion.

"Pardon?"

"Excuse me?"

"What did you say?"

"Huh?"

Corey felt a tear run down his cheek. There was no way that Rage would pass. Not when it was MAX. (Period.)

The step began to fly and Rage began to dance.

He did well through the first part, and had a chance to recover when the song slowed to 180 bpm. PARANOiA chords could be heard, as a tribute to the song. But Rage was worried, he didn't know when the song sped up again.

"RAGE! NOW!"

Rage danced with extreme earnest, and began getting all perfects. Then the song turned to it's blistering 600 bpm section. Rage glowed as the dance bar filled to max. He caught every arrow.

He jumped. An explosion.

"Thank you for playing…(cheers)"

Rage had passed with a full combo and a AAA.

Sly closed his eyes and felt himself being tugged off of the ground. He landed by Rage, where everyone had as well.

"Rage, you did it!" Peach screamed and wrapped herself around him.

Corey took the Controllerpath and another clue was beamed into it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have completed our first challenge."

A/N: Ok, REALLY long chapter. On Microsoft Word it's six pages long. Anyways, review to see what game I should visit next. I will be using Team 2 in the next chapter. The next game they visit has to be one of the characters' games. It has to be from Team 2. It cannot be DDR again even though Emi is on Team 2 because she is knocked out remember? Ok, enough ranting. Oh, and if you send me a flame, it will be 1) severely laughed at. 2) ignored. 3) burnt. 4) all of the above. You pick.