SHONEN ALLIANCE AND THE ULTRA ALLIANCE

THE CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL

Part 4

OPENING THEME: Limit-Break x Survivor (Dragon Ball Super)

Vine and Kirito pursued the familiar to a dark alley where they sensed a powerful dark magic.

"This is definitely the entrance to a labyrinth," Vine cursed, "to be able to feel this much of the witch's power without even entering the labyrinth… we're out of our league here. Can you contact your friends?"

"I can call Sugu and tell her to get Goku," Kirito suggested reaching into his back pocket. "Uh oh, I must've left my phone in the car."

"Of course," Vine sighed, "go. I'll keep an eye on things here."

Vine transmuted his sword as Kirito ran back the way they'd come to retrieve his phone.

"Tch," Vine cursed as several butterfly like familiars began to appear from the alleyway, "this town has enough heartache to deal with this Christmas, you freaks won't add to it!"

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Noire was awake and beginning to panic when Kirito reached the car.

"There you are! What's going on!?" she demanded as Kirito got into the car and began searching for his phone.

"We need Goku," Kirito revealed, "something Vine called a Witch is attacking the town!" he shouted, waking the sleeping kids.

"Where is he!?" Noire demanded as Kirito pointed the direction he'd come.

"There's an alley on the other side of the park. Vine said the witch's Labyrinth was there. He's keeping an eye on it now!"

In a flash of white light, Noire transformed into the goddess, Black Heart. "Get in contact with the others, quickly. I'll join Vine!" she ordered Kirito as she flew in the direction he had indicated.

Finally, Kirito was able to find his phone.

"Please let Sugu or Asuna have their phones," he pleaded as he began hitting buttons.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

A crescent blast split a familiar in half, as Vine jumped back to the mouth of the alleyway to distance himself from a dozen others.

"These things get out, they could do a ton of damage," Vine cursed, "you won't get past me!"

Two familiars flew at him, only to be cut down by agile swordplay as he struck down a third with a well placed blast. He blocked another's attack with his sword, but the strike knocked him off balance, causing him to stagger and leave himself open to another attack!

"Crap!" Vine cursed as three familiars closed in to attack.

"Volcano Dive!" Black Heart roared as she jumped in, wiping out the three attacking Familiars with a fiery slash.

"I had 'em," Vine declared, steadying himself.

"How do we stop these things?" Black Heart asked.

"We need to enter the Labyrinth and bring down the witch, but it won't be that easy. I'm sure you can feel that overwhelming magical power. If we can feel it this easily even outside of the Labyrinth, then we're dealing with an extremely powerful witch," Vine revealed as the two forced back the remaining familiars, "even with you here, I don't think we've got enough firepower of bring it down."

"If we keep fighting them out here, it's only a matter of time before one of these monsters get past us. We should at least enter the Labyrinth and keep the familiars occupied," Black Heart declared firmly.

"We enter the Labyrinth, we risk drawing the witch into a fight," Vine cautioned, "but… you're not wrong. We don't know how long it'll take for help to arrive," he admitted as Kirito arrived, accompanied by Rom and Ram.

"I managed to get ahold of Sugu. They were out looking at some Christmas lights in a nearby town, but she's going to try to track down our dimension's Vine," Kirito revealed.

"Not quite Goku, but it'll have to do," Vine replied, "alright then, here's the plan. Rom, Ram, can you two wait here. The others will need someone's energy to lock onto in order to find us and if anything comes out, it'll be up to you two to stop it before it can get away."

"Yeah, but what're you guys gonna do!?" Ram demanded.

"The three of us are going in," Vine replied, "most of the familiars should focus on us so they'll be less likely to exit the Labyrinth and attack the town. However, if any do exit, you two have to take them down. Don't let them get away. Familiars, even without a witch, will continue to hunt and kill innocent people, and if they grow powerful enough, they'll become a witch themselves."

"Got it. You can count on us!" Ram declared.

"We won't let you down, Vine," Rom promised as a flash of white light covered both twins and they transformed into their White Sister forms.

"Vine, what're the chances will encounter the witch once we're in the Labyrinth?" Kirito asked.

"Pretty high, unfortunately," Vine replied, "if we do encounter it, just focus on distracting it. We've likely got no chance of taking it down on our own."

"Alright, we've got it. Let's hurry," Black Heart ordered as the three entered the Labyrinth.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"Haaaa!" Vine roared, blasting two familiars away with alchemy.

"TORNADO SWORD!" Black Heart shouted, cutting down three more with her blade as Kirito cut down a small group with his dual swords.

"They just keep coming!" Black Heart cursed as she cut down another with her sword and Vine blasted one approaching her from behind.

"They won't stop until we defeat the witch," Vine revealed, "just keep taking them out!" he ordered, cutting down one with his sword. Just then, a blood-chilling screech shook the air, causing the familiars to stop their attack. The three heroes watched in horror as the world around them seemed to freeze over as a flurry of snow kicked up, forming into a giant, blue-skinned woman with butterfly wings.

"Uhhh… Vine, is that it?" Kirito asked.

"I… think so," Vine replied, "I'll admit, it looks a bit boring compared to the other witches I've seen, but on the other hand it's nice to encounter one of these things you could describe in a single simple sentence."

The witch took a swing at the two swordsmen, forcing them to jump in separate directions to evade the attack.

Cue Background Music: Magia (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Vine sprinted to the side of the witch, firing off blasts at the witch as he ran, unfortunately with no effect as the witch began to flap its wings as Vine stopped.

"Now what?" he wondered as the witch suddenly launched a storm of ice shards at Vine, "ah crap!" he shouted, transmuting a shell of earth that blocked the ice. However, the witch followed up by charging to throw punch at the shell.

"No you don't!" Black Heart shouted, slamming into the watch and knocking her off balance as Kirito managed to slice through the back of her legs, causing her to topple to the ground. The shell suddenly burst open as Vine used a pillar to launch himself into the air, landing on the witch and driving it to the hilt through her head.

"Yes!" Black Heart exclaimed, only to be disappointed when the witch shot back to its feet, thrashing around wildly as Vine desperately held on to the hilt of his sword, struggling not to be sent flying.

"Wahhhh! How… do… you… get… back… up… after that!?" Vine exclaimed desperately as he finally managed to plant his foot against the witch's chest, pushing off and pulling his sword out of the witch's head. As he distanced himself from her, he was horrified as the gash in her head instantly healed.

"Well… now what?" Kirito asked.

"Uhhh… I got nothin'," Vine replied, shaking his head.

"I've got something left. TRANSFORM!" Black Heart declared angrily as she flew up above them and became engulfed in a black light. As the light dissipated, Noire hovered over the witch, now transformed into NEXT Black Heart. "I'll show you the power of a Next-Gen CPU."

"That… could help," Vine admitted, activating his final attack, "HIT HER WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" Vine ordered firing off the most powerful blast he could muster, striking the witch as Kirito rushed in and released a barrage of slashes against the enemy. Kirito was knocked back, but NEXT Black Heart, stabbed her sword through the witch, ripping through her.

"This is over. DIAGONAL BLADE DANCE!" Noire shouted, unleashing her ultimate barrage of attacks, ending with a powerful strike that created a pillar of light that engulfed the witch. NEXT Black Heart landed, dropping to her knees as she transformed back into Noire, completely exhausted.

"Did… did that work?" Noire gasped looking up at Vine and Kirito. Her eyes widened with terror as she realized Vine and Kirito were still looking past her, eyes wide with shock. She looked behind her to see the witch standing over her.

"Get out of there!?" Kirito exclaimed as Vine rushed towards Noire as the witch threw a punch at the goddess to crush her. Just as it seemed it was over for Lastation's CPU, though, the heroes received a welcome sight as Super Saiyan Blue Goku instant transmitted in over Noire, stopping the Witch's punch.

"Phew," Noire gasped.

"Cutting it close," Vine sighed. He and Kirito both jumped a bit as Ultradimension Vine suddenly appeared next to them, along with Vegeta, Future Trunks, Asuna, and Leafa.

"Looks like we made it just in time," Trunks declared as Asuna and Leafa both ran to Kirito.

"Are you alright?" Asuna asked frantically.

"Yeah, I'm good," Kirito replied reassuringly.

"Yeah, I'm fine too, by the way," Vine sighed.

"I don't think anyone cares," Ultradimension Vine admitted rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, I kinda got that impression."

"Enough, I have better things to do then deal with this thing," Vegeta ordered, powering up to Blue.

"Uh guys," Goku protested, "I could probably take care of this on my own."

"Yeah, but I'd rather get in a good fight, then spend the rest of the night looking at Christmas lights," Ultradimension Vine declared, powering up to Super Saiyan.

"And somehow, I got dragged along, so I might as well do something," Trunks sighed as he powered up to Super Saiyan as well.

"This went from not going well to complete overkill," Vine admitted as the witch jumped back and the Saiyans lined up to attack.

"Kamehame…" Ultradimension Vine began.

"FINAL FLASH!" Vegeta shouted.

"GALIK GUN!" Trunks roared.

"KAMEHAMEHA!" Goku roared as all four Saiyans fired off their attacks obliterating the witch.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"And that's how the Saiyans saved Christmas," Goku said excitedly as the Labyrinth began to dissipate around them.

"Yeah about that," Vine sighed in reply.

ENDING THEME: CONNECT (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

So this was supposed to be the final chapter, but the action scene got away from me a bit so I decided to get in a bit of action for a story that really doesn't have a lot. I'll try to finish it up over the weekend so I can resume Book of the Shadows next week.