The Seventh Challenge

Larxene walked up to Ansem and grabbed him by the collar. "Your damn robot gave me a welt on my flawless forehead!" She screamed pointing to a red bump on her face.

"Meh." was his only reply.

"Oh yeah?! Well how would you like it if you suddenly became very familiar with the phrase 'swimming with the fishies'?!"

"Meh."

"ARGH! You infuriating sack of skin!"

"Meh." Larxene screamed and skulked back to her team.

"Um...Larxene? Your horns are showing." Demyx said timidly.

"What? Oh dear." She pulled a yellow compact out of her pocket and pushed her little red horns back into her head.

"What was that about?" Yuffie asked.

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." The woman said simply. Yuffie gulped and shut her mouth.

"Why are we having two challenges in one day?" Xemnas whined.

"Because I want to!" Ansem said, "And Destiny said I should always listen to what I want!"

"Just tell us what the challenge is so we can do it and leave." Cloud said in a bored voice.

Ansem grinned and burst out, "This evening's challenge is...a trip through a haunted house!" Sora fainted with a terrified expression on his face. Xaldin almost fainted as well - though he only fainted 97 of the way. Apparently pleased with their reactions, Ansem pressed a button on a remote control he had been holding in his hand. A giant house appeared out of nowhere. There was an ominous peel of thunder in the background and thunder clouds gathered around the house. "Well that was a nice effect." Ansem commented. "The rules are simple - the first team to make it out of the house is the winner. "And," he continued with a wicked gleam in his eye, "anyone who faints will be forced to wear a demeaning suit for the rest of the day."

"What kind of suit?" Vexen asked suspiciously.

"You'll see soon, my friend, you'll see."

"By the way, where's Imogene?" Demyx asked looking around apprehensively.

"Don't worry. She won't be here today due to a terrible sunburn. However, she is here in spirit as this challenge was her idea."

-Somewhere else on the island...

A sunburned Imogene watched as the two teams were led to their separate entrances. She crammed ice cream into her mouth and chuckled. "Oh I can't wait..."

Back on the beach...

"Let the challenge begin!" Ansem declared. And the two teams walked inside warily...

-with Team Warriors of Justice-

"Riku? Do you still have that awesome blindfold that you used to have?" Sora asked his friend nervously.

"No, why?"

"Damn..."

"You're scared, aren't you?" Vexen smirked.

"No I'm not! Well, not really...okay, maybe kinda...a lot.." he trailed off then realized that Vexen was still smirking. "Stop looking at me!" Sora cried hiding behind Riku. Suddenly, he felt a cold pressure on his back.

"Boo." Vexen shouted. Sora fainted for the second time that day. Before anyone could react, the boy was carried away by two men in black suits. They put up a curtain that had changing room printed on it. A few moments passed then the two men took the sheet down and disappeared into an 'employees only' door. Leon strode over to Sora and examined the boy.

"Umm...Sora is wearing an Energizer Bunny costume." he said uncertainly to the others.

The boy slowly came to and sat up with a groan. "What happened? And why do feel fuzzy?" he looked down at his hands. "What the?!" Sora leapt up and looked in a conveniently placed mirror. "Cool! I'm wearing a pink bunny costume with a drum!" he exclaimed happily. "Now this will dispel all of the scarynessness!" He pounded the drum loudly and marched forward. "Come on guys! Let's go fight the darkness and save some damsels in distress!" He walked on, grinning madly.

"What is he babbling about?" Xemnas asked. They continued through the corridor and were bombarded with some 'ghosts' which looked more like balloons with sheets over them.

"Fellow warriors, attack!" Sora cried as he bashed on the 'ghost' with on of his drumsticks. "That was a close one..." Sora sighed.

"This is without doubt, the worst haunted house I've ever been in." Zexion said as he walked past another one of the 'ghosts' ignoring it completely (I mean, what did you expect? He's Zexion.)

"Foshizzle." Axel agreed. And they walked on.

-with Team Dominators-

"This is the scariest place I've ever seen!" Yuffie screamed from her position latched onto Cloud's arm.

"Yuffie, you are invading my personal space." the blonde said.

"Oh, sorry." she reluctantly let go. Only to latch right back on as a flock of bats flew through the air.

"Personal space!" Cloud reminded her as he pried her hands off of his arm. She fell to the floor in a faint. Like when Sora fainted, the two men came out and changed Yuffie into ...an Oreo costume! When she came to, she tried to sit up, but to no avail.

"Whaaaa! I feel so fat!" Yuffie wailed. It took both Xigbar and Xaldin's strength to pull her lardness back up to her feet. "Get this thing off of me!" she shouted.

"Umm...there's no zipper." Kairi said puzzled.

"Then you're just going to have to put up with it." Larxene said. "Now let's hurry up! we can't loose again!" They all walked through a door at the end of the hall.

"Guys? Um, I can't fit through the door." Yuffie said with a nervous laugh.

"Boys - kick her through." Larxene commanded with a flick of her wrist.

"My pleasure!" Xigbar said cracking his knuckles.

"H-hey, wait! What are you doing?!" Yuffie protested as Xigbar turned her sideways. Xaldin kicked the Oreo costume and sent it flying through the door. "Ahhhhhhhh!" Yuffie screamed as the Oreo began to spin on it's side like a giant tire. "Oh no - NOT STAIRS!!!" she cried seeing that she was headed straight for a (downward) staircase.

"Look out below!" Marluxia called as he leapt out of the way.

"Huh?" Demyx asked from his spot at the bottom of the stairs as he turned around and saw the Oreo headed his way. "OH MY GOD!" he screamed. He had no time to get out of the way and was promptly squished by Yuffie. Her costume ran into a wall and came to a stop, falling to its side.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." she said in a dazed voice. The others went down the stairs.

"We've got a man down!" Xigbar said kneeling to Demyx. "Can you hear me? Speak to me little dude!" he cried turning the Melodious Nocturne over.

"Did you catch the license plate number?" Demyx muttered before passing out. Once again, the costume changer peoples came out and changed Demyx into...a burrito costume!

"We don't have time to wait for him to come around! Now pick him up and let's get going!" Larxene shouted.

So they were off...again.

-with Team Warriors of Justice-

Everyone had a headache from the repeated banging of Sora's drum. "Sora! I swear if you bang that drum one more time, I will wring your skinny little neck!" Xemnas yelled. Sora looked up at the Nobody, wide eyed. He slowly brought the drum stick thingy closer and closer to the drum. "Don't you dare!" Xemnas warned the boy. Sora pounded the drum lightly. "That's it!" Manse-er I mean Xemnas leapt forward and made to strangle the boy. Fortunately for Sora (and unfortunately for Xemnas), Riku stepped in.

"Sorry Xemnas, but even though Sora is being a pain in the-"
"Heeeeey!"

"He's still my best friend and I can't let you hurt him."
"You think you can stop me?!" Xemnas exclaimed.

"Yes." Riku replied getting into a fighting stance.

"Think again!" Xemnas yelled as he charged forward and grabbed the teen by the waist. With a grunt, he threw poor Riku straight into Sephiroth. The stoic man was caught by surprise and fell back with the younger boy on top of him. Riku groaned and crawled off of Sephiroth.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! You psychotic maniac!" Riku yelled angrily at Xemnas.

"Umm...Guys?" Leon called everyone's attention to the very strange site. Sephiroth, who had hit his head on the wall when he fell, was unconscious. No one knew quite what to think about this. They were still in shock when the costume changing men came out and transformed Sephiroth into...a white kitten costume! There was silence, then slowly, ever so slowly, the sound of laughter filled the room. Even Zexion chuckled! Sephiroth's eyes fluttered open and he sat up. The laughter continued.

"Ah, man!" Axel said through fits of laughter, "He's gonna kill us for this, but it is so worth it!" The pyromaniac wiped tears from his eyes and clutched his sides.

Sephiroth was clearly wondering what was so funny. He reached up to rub his head and caught sight of his hand. Or should I say paw. He stared at it for a second, then leapt up to examine himself in yet another conveniently placed mirror. By this time, the laughter had died down and the rest of the team waited for the man's reaction. Sephiroth yanked at the costume's tail and said, "Someone is going to die for this." or rather, what came out was an angry sounding, "Meow."

This set everyone off into renewed fits of laughter. Sephiroth let out a hiss. "Meow meow, meooow!!!" (Translation: Ansem is a dead man!)

Sephiroth charged through the hallway and started taking random turns. "Everyone follow the angry man!" Riku commanded chasing after him. They followed the him for a while, and amazingly he ended up leading them outside.

Zexion looked around and said, "I believe we are the first ones out."

"We won? Awesome! Go anger management man!" Axel shouted punching the air.

Ansem stepped out from behind the door and said, "Congratulations Team Warriors of Justice. You have overcome the odds Destiny has placed in front of you and come out stronger than ever."

Sephiroth let out a mighty meow and leapt at Ansem. However, before he could get anywhere near the man, he was shocked (literally I mean) by his costume. "Sorry my friend, but if you get anywhere near me, or anyone for that matter with the intention of harming them, the sensors in that costume will shock the living daylights out of you."

Sephiroth glared at him and hissed. "What's our prize?" Xemnas asked.

"You are now the proud owners of... a sack of brand new toys!" Ansem said taking a sack out from behind his back. Sora gasped and tore the bag out of Ansem's arms.

"My precious..." Sora murmured stroking the sack lovingly.

"Ewww get a room!" Xemnas said.

At that moment, team Dominators stumbled out of the house. Larxene screamed in frustration. "We lost?!"

"How did Xaldin manage not to faint?" Vexen asked looking at the still conscious man.

"Honestly, we have no idea." Cloud said. The moment Yuffie waddled out of the house, Sora began to drool.

"Sugar!" he screamed running up to the ninja girl and taking a bite out of her costume.

"Yyaaah! Get him offa me!" she yelped twirling around, trying to dislodge the boy. Despite his best efforts to hang on, Sora was sent flying into the nearest person. He got up rubbing his head and apologized to whoever he was sitting on.

"We should've seen that coming." Demyx commented referring to the fact that Sora's fall had been broken by Xaldin, who now lay unconscious on the floor.

-At Tribal Council-

"Okay, the voting has come to a close and the results are in." Ansem shifted through the sheets of paper in his hands. "The score is Xigbar-1, Xaldin-7." Ansem looked over to the still unconscious man. "You sure wanted him gone, didn't you?"

"Yep, pretty much." Larxene said.

"Better him than us." Kairi added.

The trapdoor opened and Xaldin fell obliviously into it.

"And that's the end of that bowl of cornflakes." Xigbar said happily. And they all headed back to camp.

Well, review please!