ACT III: Preparations

PART 1: Goings On

"How have you done, my son?" the man asked.

"I've been doing very well, my father. I have gotten almost all that you have asked for here. And more are coming as we speak."

"Good. Once all have come here, we shall start our 'tournament'. And the winner shall get the grand prize: watching as all the loser's trophies are assimilated to create my final form."

"Yes, my father. I look forward to seeing you strong again."

"Good. Now go, my son."

"Yes, father." Evan stood and left the room.

"But I must have as much power as I can," the man whispered to himself. "Which is why you, too, must die, Evan..."

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"Look, a forest," Snake said. They stopped abruptly and looked. The forest seemed to spread for miles down what appeared to be a completely straight line. The grass stopped at the point that the sand started in.

"That's peculiar," Leon said, frowning. "Should it really all be straight like that?"

"Eve?" Wall-E questioned.

"Who's Eve?" Snake asked. Suddenly, there was a small flash. Leon and Snake shielded their eyes while Wall-E's cameras attempted to polarize against the light. The strain set the poor robot out of power and it sat, overstrenuated and powerless for the moment. Its power level blinked, meaning "recharge". His solar panels flashed for maximum power gain. That was when a lizard-like creature came out of nowhere lunging forward and stabbing the poor, defenseless robot through the torso with huge claws, leaving him nothing but a peculiar trophy, lying on the sand.

As soon as Snake and Leon could see again, they saw a young man with blue hair, a cape, and a sword walk forward. The lizard gave the man the Wall-E trophy and the man smiled slightly before retreating into the dark orb from whence he came. After, several more of the lizards poured from this dark orb before it closed and disappeared from reality.

"What now?" Leon asked quietly. Snake pushed a pistol into his hand and put his own hand on the RPG on his back.

"Ready?" Snake asked.

"Yeah," Leon replied.

"Ready..."

"Set..."

"Go!" they cried simultaneously.

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"So that Evan," Sora said, while they were walking through the forest. "What's up with him?"

"I think he rules over this entire place," Cortana replied. "He apparently has it all wired. I have a feeling there's some deeper connection he has with this place, but I just can't seem to place it. Not yet, at least."

"So basically we're searching for answers right now," Isaac replied. "And until we find them..."

"We can't rest," Sora finished. "Well can we rest for a little bit? My legs are tired at the sun is setting again."

"Did it rise?" the Chief asked. Everyone stopped. They don't remember it rising. It set when they were in the clearing, Gordon got turned into a trophy, then when they stepped out into the clearing again, it was daytime.

"What's going on here?" Isaac yelled.

"Yes, we should rest," Cortana replied. "One of us should keep watch while the other two sleep. Chief and I have the first shift. You two rest."

"Thanks," Sora said, yawning. "I really need a break." He lied down on the grass and slowly fell into a deep sleep, as did Isaac.

"You know more than you say," John said, turning off the external speakers.

"I think I may be piecing this together," she admitted. "But for now, we'll just have to wait and see if I'm right."

"Well what are you anticipating?" he asked.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," she said. He heard the smile in her voice. "Powering down."

John sat down and waited. Then he waited. And waited.

"Cortana," he said, antsy unlike he had been in a very long time. "Power on."

"Powering on. Chief?"

"What time is it, Earth time."

"It's about 740 Hours. It's been a long time, Chief. Have you...?"

"The entire time," he said, grimacing under his helmet.

"That's not normal."

"Cortana, nothing here is normal. Now, what were you saying earlier? Everyone's asleep." She paused.

"Evan."

"Yes?"

"He's not human."

"What...?"

"Evan is made of the same substance as the stuff that brought us here, and the stuff he brought into. The lizard creatures we fought are made of a similar substance."

"Hm."

"Sora is made of something different as well. It's different that the Dark Matter, however. Isaac is from our dimension, so obviously I recognize him as normal."

"Our dimension? So Sora and Evan..."

"No. I don't know where we are. Somewhere beyond comprehension. I've been acting oddly, have I not?"

"Come to think of it."

"The peculiar situation has set my memory in a bunch, and is making me think crazy. It's hard to comprehend for an AI."

"I see."

"I don't trust that Evan."

"Neither do I."

"Wake Isaac up. And go to bed, Chief. You'll need rest for what's ahead."

"What's ahead?"

"I'm not sure what I think is coming... but it's bad."

"I see. Alright, I'll go to bed. Thanks, Cortana."

"Powering down." The Chief paused and went to Isaac, rousing him slowly.

"Wha...?"

"Your shift."

"Aight, thanks Chief..." he grumbled and got up. As the Chief fell asleep, Isaac looked around. He then saw something peculiar. What appeared to be a blue orb floating and drifting along.

"Fairy?" he wondered to himself. "Fairies don't exist." Neither to giant, black lizards or doors leading to floating lake platforms in the sky, he thought to himself. He slowly followed the fairy until it stopped.

"Link," the fairy said in a velvety voice, "we have a visitor." Isaac saw a boy turn around. He was in a green outfit and had a sword in one hand and a triangle-shaped mark on the other.

"My name is Isaac," he told the boy.

"His name is Link," the fairy said. "He doesn't talk much. My name is Navi."

"Nice to meet you both," Isaac said. "We'd better get back to our base camp." Link nodded and followed Isaac back. When he got there, Sora and the Chief were both awake.

"Hey guys, I-" he paused. Chief's helmet was off. "You're not the Master Chief." The fake Chief glared at him with piercing yellow eyes and skin made of Dark Matter. The two fake heroes growled and lunged.

PART 2: Beginning of the End

"Wall-E's gone," Leon commented. They were surrounded by the bodies of the lizards that hadn't yet dissolved into the peculiar dark orbs that seep into the ground.

"Yeah. Poor guy. I kinda liked him."

"Me too. Wait, nevermind. Wall-E! Over here!" They looked to the forest line to see the robot roll over. "Wall-E, we were worried." It looked up. It's eyes were a peircing red.

"Directive override," it said darkly.

"Wall-E?" Leon said, stepping back. It opened its storage compartment and retrieved a pistol.

"Override, override, override..." it chanted. It held the pistol at arm's length and fired. It fired a green laser that clipped Leon in the side, spinning him to the ground. Snake aimed his RPG at the robot and fired. Wall-E dodged it and continued firing the Ray Gun at the heroes. Leon got up, finding his pistol behind the brawling Wall-E and Snake. He looked down.

"Huh...? What's this...?" Upon touching the compass, it appeared on his chest. It read, "MOTHER" across the front. Wall-E saw he was up and fired the Ray Gun at him. The projectile hit Leon and bounced back, knocking the gun from Wall-E's hand. Leon took this moment to run forward taking both his pistol and the Ray Gun, firing them at Wall-E.

"Error, error, error!" the robot cried in pain as it sizzled on the ground. Shortly after, it dissolved into the same substance of dark orbs.

"He was a lizard?" Leon asked.

"No. This place is weird... I don't trust anything," Snake replied.

"Me neither." They paused. "I think we should go into the forest now."

"Good idea. Let's go."

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"Chief? Sora?" Isaac called out. He looked forward to see two trophies, one of Master Chief and one of Sora. On the other side of the trophies was a large, dinosaur looking creature with a red shell. It grunted at them before grabbing the two trophies. Link rushed forward and tapped Sora's trophy. There was a flash and Sora reappeared, Keyblade in hand.

"Who's that?" Sora asked, ready to fight.

"That's Bowser," Navi replied. "He's a villain here in the World of Trophies." Sora nodded.

"So we beat him?" Sora asked, charging the dinosaur. Bowser stomped hard and blew Sora back, sprawling out on the ground. Bowser chuckled and walked into the dark portal, the portal receding in on itself.

"Ow..." Sora said, unable to move.

"Are you okay?" Isaac asked, kneeling by him.

"Yeah... but he got John," Sora coughed. "We can't let them get away with this. We have to stop them."

"I think it's Evan's doing," Isaac said softly. "He's probably sending these horrid monsters and people to attack us and take us back for those battlegrounds."

"Then why not take us all at once? Why not just tell us where we're going instead of turning us into trophies?"

"I don't know. But we'll find out," he replied, looking up. The other three followed his gaze to find a huge black hole, hovering several hundred feet above the ground, brushing the treetops.

"What is that?!" Sora asked, having bad experiences with black holes.

"I don't know. I think it's a portal to the battlegrounds that Evan had talked about."

"Think we should go in?" Navi asked.

"That's our best bet," Isaac replied. "If we don't, then we'll probably be stuck here, fighting endless numbers of fighters forever. Let's go." They began climbing the trees nearby. As soon as they reached the top, they felt the light suction of the black hole above them.

"Ready?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah," Sora and Navi said, the three nodding.

"One... Two... Jump!" The four jumped up into the air, their vision blurring into nothingness as they blacked out.

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"What is that?" Snake asked, looking up at the black hole hovering above them.

"It looks like the thing that that one man appeared from. The one before the lizard battle."

"Right. Maybe if we go into it, we can find Wall-E. Or... maybe it's a way out."

"Good idea," Leon replied. "But how do we get into it?"

"What's that?" Snake asked. Looking ahead, he saw a barrel with an arrow on it. The arrow pointed up toward the black hole. Snake touched it and suddenly disappeared.

"Snake? SNAKE?" Leon called.

"I'm in here," Snake's voice emitted from the barrel.

"Oh. Well get out of there," Leon scolded.

"There's a button here..." Suddenly, the barrel exploded and Snake spiraled up into the black hole. Leon touched the barrel and then pressed the button as well, flying up into the black hole. Into the dark abyss known only as Subspace.

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"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Evan said aloud, looking upon the collection he'd gotten. "This wont do. They can't all just sit around. They must battle and fight to the death. It wouldn't be fun without it!" He went along, tapping each of the trophies that had appeared after entering one of the many portals. One by one, they awakened. Finally, everyone was awake. "Welcome!" Evan cried. "To the Subspace Arena!"