Sup! It's the moment we've all been waiting for as we cross into the next arc…the ever expanding Guild Wars arc. With the filler being a nice way to breeze us through, it is actually time to formally start this exciting new chapter. Expect to see many things from this moment on as we go on to the next level. However; I've kept you all waiting long enough so…ON WITH THE SHOW!

Beta'd by: Ravena Felidae

"FFW"-Speech

'FFW'-Thought

'FFW'-Flashback

"FFW"-Attacks

Disclaimer: I do not own any reference to any anime/game/show/book, etc. that appears in this story. I own the original plot (at least I hope its original) and my own characters and OC's. All other characters and references belong to their original creators.

Chapter 22: The Guild Wars Kicks Off

"Well that was a great end to a very special summer vacation!" Bella said as she walked out the van that was now parked in Kurotsubasa's back garage in Tokyo City. "Too bad we had to end it so early, if only I could just turn back time so that we could have more fun…Ooh wait!, I know!" Before Bella could transform Shadow held her arm in place and then smacked her head lightly with a rolled up newspaper.

"Bad Bella, Bad! Remember your promise. I let us take a break for summer, but now we're back and have to be prepared for anything tomorrow brings." Shadow said as he was now wheeling his new motorcycle to the wall. Amaya was asleep from the trip, but kept her spot on the boy's head.

Bella was now rubbing her abused forehead. "I know, though I wish this tournament would come at another time. All this Guild Wars nonsense has really eaten into my pranking time." The girl pouted.

Ravena took the time to pat the toon girl's back as she exited the van. "Nya, cool down Hy-Nya. The trip was fun while it lasted but we do have some things to be worried about in the morning. The Guild Wars are very important."

"Punnya!" Punnya agreed, to Bella's ire.

After taking two days off to enjoy the peace of summer, Kurotsubasa found themselves back at their base in Tokyo City unpacking and getting ready for the Events that will soon take place the next day. Even though it was night, there was an unusual quiet air around Tokyo City. There weren't any late night gamers socializing and doing some quick quests or raid before they crash; everyone had gotten an early night's sleep to either be prepared to enter or watch the anticipated upcoming event: The Guild Wars.

"To think that the event starts in the morning; I'm even more nervous now than when it was just a few days ago." Illu said as she made sure Mukurowl and Nyoka was with her when she got out of her seat. "I wonder how Chocobo and the others are dealing with this too. It's one thing to be prepared, but now that the day is so close…"

"Don't sweat it Illu, I'm sure we'll do fine." DB said getting out of the passenger seat. "We've all had our share of tough battles and all the Guild Wars are just a series of battles. It's not like we aren't used to fighting strong opponents, I'm sure we're ready for anything." The vampire said confidently as he tried to sooth the owl girl's anxiety.

"While the Guild Wars will be more than just battle after battle DB is right. There is no use for all of us sweating over the Guild Wars when it's so close. We'll worry about the challenges when they get here." Key said after parking and stepping out of the driver's seat. "Let's all logout, get some good night sleep and be ready to meet up tomorrow for when the kick off starts."

"Man I can't wait! The Kick-Off events are always so amazing each year, I'm always so jealous of all the people chosen to actually go see it live!" DB said, with jealousy present in his voice. Each year, the Guild Wars began with a kick-off to begin the battle season, and unlike other events it wasn't in-game, but on a special island in the real world provided by the creators of FFW: Murakumo Industries. A select number of players are chosen randomly from all over the world are invited to the island to watch the event take place first-hand while the other players not chosen were able to see the live stream from their TV's and in FFW. "What are the chances that all of us will be over to go this year?" DB asked.

"Right now, I like my chances of getting a good night's sleep. Whether we get an invitation or not, I want all of us to be at one-hundred percent. Once the kick-off is over expect Guilds to be popping up out of the woodwork." Shadow said as he opened his menu to logout.

"Wait, Shadow," Illu stopped him once his finger was inches from the button. The girl seemed even more nervous now, though he couldn't see her expression because it was hidden partially by her scarf. "Um, did you hear news of the update FFW will be given tomorrow as well?" Illu asked.

"You mean, the linked web chats right?" Shadow asked, receiving a nod from the hybrid. He had received a message from FFW saying they were now supporting web camera chats but he didn't know why Illu was bringing this up now.

"I-I figured since the chats can now have web cams, maybe we can all see what each other looks like. It can also give us another way to strategize secretly since our chats could be private." Illu offered her idea; true it would give them privacy to plan for the Guild Wars but Illu was also curious to what her friends look like in reality. With all they been through, she thought they should at least know each other real world identities.

"I don't know…" Shadow said looking to the side.

DB raised a brow. "Sounds like a good idea to me; I always wondered what my friends looked like from other sides of the screen." He said with modest curiosity.

"It couldn't hurt, and we trust each other with so much already. A name and a face can't hurt." Key agreed.

"Friends in not one, but two worlds; Who would say no to that?" Bella smiled.

"Nya, don't tell me you have your own reasons to want to hide your face Shadow-kyun." Ravena said, agreeing with everyone else on the idea that they should switch their chatroom style to web cam. Even she was curious about the people who truly made up Kurotsubasa.

"Call me crazy but I kind of like this air of mystery we have with each other. I've never really liked web cams." Shadow admitted as he then prepared to logout. "Sorry but I got to go otherwise I'll never get to sleep, we'll talk about this later after the kick-off maybe. Night guys."

"Night crazy!" Bella and Ravena waved him goodbye. Shadow decided to ignore their jibe as he then disappeared, having now logged out of FFW. "Sometimes he can be so secretive, but Shadow-kyun is Shadow-kyun. You can't really change him." The catgirl said.

"Maybe what I said brought up some bad memories." Illu looked down; thinking that she may have opened some of the scythe user's old wounds.

"No it's like Rave said. Its just Shads being all mysterious." DB said. "I'm sure tomorrow he'll be the same and we can probably guilt him into the webcam idea. If all of us gang up on him I'm sure we can convince him." He then gave her a large smile. The smile seemed infectious as Illu let out a few giggles of her own seeing the smile.

"Ok, then I'll see everyone tomorrow then." Soon all of Kurotsubasa said their own good byes before logging out after securing their base and locking for the night.

(FFW)

That morning, a young man rose out of bed and stretched as he saw from his clock that he had woken up earlier than he normally would. He shrugged as he gone through his daily routine and got dressed, thinking only of the event that was about to start off in FFW today. After washing up and brushing his teeth the young man got dressed and observed himself in the mirror. He had brown skin and short black hair that spiked slightly but was right now matted down with water from the recent shower. He was wearing a half zipped grey hoodie with a black shirt underneath it, blue jeans belted off and black and white sneakers. As he continued to check his appearance he was soon called by his mother to join breakfast; he left the bathroom to the kitchen where he filled his plate with a few stacks of pancakes with eggs and bacon.

"Shawn I wish you would stop wearing that jacket in the summer, one day you're going to be walking back here with heat stroke one of these days." The young man's mother chastised him.

"I wear it out of habit, and who knows how the weather could turn it rained twice yesterday didn't it?" Shawn said as lightly applied syrup to his pancake stack. He sat in his usually spot at the table seeing his brothers and sister already there eating their food, Shawn quickly finished and then stood up to walk outside. "I'm going to go check the mail Mom." He called to her before he left as he searched through the mailbox. Sorting the mail as he walked back in the house he stopped seeing an envelope addressed to him.

He had expected to receive some mail from work, probably something his boss forgot to give him at the office or email because he was busy with his stories about his 'little dragon' back at his home in Japan. What he didn't expect was the envelope to contain a letter, an airline ticket, and what looked like a red armband.

Dear Shadowlight0982

Congratulations, you have been selected along with 1000 others players of FFW to be invited to attend the Guild War Kick-Off Event held at the Infinity Dome. Within this envelope lies a ticket that will allow you to access our private jet that will be transporting many of you to our private island for the event. We hope that you will be able to attend this event.

P.S. Bring your Visor.

Sincerely,

Murakumo Industries

It took a lot of convincing to his mother to allow him to go, mostly that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and he had his own way of making it to the airport and back home. Once Shawn got her permission, he went to his room and packed a few things in a black backpack to take with him, especially his Visor. He also used his special methods of travel to quickly leave home and head towards his destination. So now Shawn found himself at the airport heading towards the gate that will have him board a jet heading towards M.I.'s private island; home of the Infinity Dome and site of where the Guild Wars kick off will take place. All he had to do now was pass through security and endure an hour plane flight. He set his bag down on the conveyor belt to have it run through X-ray while emptying his pockets of things like his wallet and other things that might set the alarm off.

"No need for me to be stopped before I can even board the plane; I'm already here so there is no way I'm just going to turn around and head home." Shawn said as he passed the scanner without setting it off. When he went to retrieve his things from the other side he was stopped by one security worker.

"Excuse me," The officer said, keeping Shawn from grabbing his bag.

"Is there a problem with my bag?" Shawn asked. He knew everything he had packed into the black backpack; things like his laptop, some notebooks, and even his Visor lied inside its confines. The only thing in there he could think of that would possibly cause some problems would be…

"It's about…these." The man reached within the bag and brought out a pair of skates. The skates themselves looked normal, four white wheels set under black shoe designed skates with dark blue trim and crescents on the side. "Can you tell me why these skates would possibly have motors in them?"

"Oh that's an easy one; it's a project that I worked on." Shawn answered the man's question. "Is there a problem with them, surely skates with motors in them can't be a problem, nothing in the airline regulations said that I couldn't bring them."

The Officer then thought for a moment. "Well, this is the first time we ever seen something like this on the airline. And something like this wouldn't have a listing in the regulations, but the fact that these skates have motors in them…"

"How's this, I can show you that these skates are perfectly harmless to the airline." Seeing the look the officer was giving him, Shawn then added more to his offer. "I was to one who made them, so I can vouch for its safety. Plus I'm sure you don't want to keep the line waiting too long with all those people behind me wanting to catch their flights."

Soon, they could both hear the outbursts of impatient travelers waiting to board their planes. Shawn himself just kept a neutral look on his face and he could see the officer try his best to do the same but he also saw the potential for a riot to form if the line didn't move quickly enough. The man then handed the skates to Shawn waiting for the demonstration. "Ok, if you can show me that they are safe I will let this incident slide." The man said.

'Incident huh?' Shawn thought as he soon took off his shoes and substituted them for the skates. Once they were securely fastened and he had his bag on his back he began to explain. "It's simple, there may be motors and circuitry involved in the skates but none of them are moving because I have them on standby." He then leaned the skates a bit to show three small buttons underneath. "It's on standby so they are ordinary skates and off locks the wheels altogether." He motioned to the first two buttons.

"And if it's turned on?"

"Well think of it like the motor of a car," To answer that man's question Shawn then hit the last button and once he focused on the ground the wheels began to spin and screech along the airport's floor attracting the wonders and awes of those in line around him. The Officer himself also looked confused but made no motioned to stop him. "It's just a way I get around; it sure as hell beats having to buy gas. Now I don't want to be late for my flight so if this interview is over I'll take my leave." Suddenly the boy then vanished taking his things with him, leaving the security in shock of where he went while there were many cries and applause from the people in line at the display. A few feet away from the line, Shawn was now replacing the skates with his shoes as he casually walked towards his gate.

'Least I got through that no problem, though I don't need to be spreading more awareness about my invention. Let's hope it doesn't get that popular.' Shawn continued on his way until he stopped suddenly seeing that he had another audience to his trick.

"Well that's some magic show you put out there, though you didn't have to leave those guys hanging. They were just doing their jobs." The girl said, eying his bag since she saw him put the skates away. Shawn shifted his bag, trying to keep it from her view as he observed this stranger that came up to him.

The girl had on a gray t-shirt leading to a floral printed skirt and purple slip-on tennis shoes on her feet. She was carrying a purple satchel with her, which Shawn could see had several designs on it such of exotic fishes, coral, and other sea related decorations. What really got his attention about her especially was the black and green FFW Visor that she used to keep her brownish blonde hair out her eyes like a makeshift headband. Unlike his, her visuals were like goggles that she kept up and she also had hers moved up along her Visor and what looked to him like an antenna on the right side complete with a small dial.

"Their job was keeping me from where I needed to go, and I didn't feel like answering a million questions." Shawn said as he walked past the girl on the way to where he needed to board, he was walking slowly this time because he could still feel the girl's eyes on him. "Is there any reason you're following me?"

"I'm not following anyone, my flight leaves from this gate too." The girl said, though she kept at pace with him as she tried to start conversation. Shawn then sighed, as he could've guessed that she would be on her way to the Infinity Dome as well since she already had her Visor out. "And plus, some voices in my head said I should walk and get to know you. There's always a time to make new friends." The girl said.

"Well now, isn't really the time. I have a jet to catch and from the looks of it so do you; now let's go to our terminal and board." Shawn then started walking faster, leaving the girl slightly confused. She then shrugged and decided to increase her pace as well seeing as they both were catching the same flight. As the two showed their tickets to the counter and went to board the large jet, Shawn let out a sigh of relief as he saw the mysterious girl's seat was on another part of the plane. He set his bag up in the carrier and rested in his solo seat as the plane continued to fill. He then pulled out some earphones and played himself some music, wanting a peaceful flight to the island.

'At least now I don't have to worry about challenges on the first day, but I wonder about the others. Odds are; it's not likely that they all got invitations as well; hopefully they aren't in any sort of trouble.' Shawn said as he enjoyed the music passing through his ears and the view outside the jet as it eventually made its ascent from the ground into the clouds.

At the same times; several jets were taking off, each with their own passengers which were players all given their invitations. After hearing the announcements from the pilot that they would be arriving soon Shadow looked down to see the island they were approaching. It was a moderate sized island that still had its natural wonders such as the beach, its forests, and a dormant volcano; though what everyone was there wasn't the island's natural beauty. It was the large structure built in the center. The Infinity Dome was a large white dome building, the passengers can see from the plane that it had a glass ceiling and was three stories tall. The jets begin landing in the runway as the one thousand players stared in awe of the gravity dome as they left the plane, the security that were stationed helped everyone off and into the dome after they had all showed their tickets upon arrival.

Once inside, Shawn took eye at all the many marvels inside the large building. He had read a few articles about the Infinity Dome but seeing it in person was something else, hundreds of shops selling FFW merchandise and items for the game, people chatting and showing off their Visors. There were even those gathered on the viewing floor already to see fighters face off in the special gravity rooms. "This place really does have everything, makes me feel jealous that I can't really go to the Gravity Domes at home." Shawn said as he slowly walked through the stands trying to find something interesting.

"Well this place may not have everything but we're close to it!" Shawn stopped to see one of the vendors call out to him. When he looked to the woman's stand he didn't see much but many different colored square devices; they almost looked light small I-phones. "Here's something that we're giving free for all the players here, they go out mainstream tomorrow!" The woman said holding one up.

"And what exactly are these things?" Shawn asked, picking up a dark blue one.

"Something new that Murakumo Industries just created, it's a PT – Portable Terminals. It's a way for players to pack all of their FFW data and make it portable, which makes it easier to move accounts to new systems." The woman explained. "Go ahead and try it out."

Shawn was a bit skeptical of the idea but he then turned it on and was greeted with a Login screen similar to the one he uses to play FFW on his computer. After putting in his information, the screen lit up and then the image changed. Lying in him realm was Shadow, asleep, with Amaya also sleeping on his head; Shawn then made a quick check with the PT and saw that it did have all his data uploaded to it. "It really does have everything."

"I told you." The woman smiled. "Say, I know I'm not supposed to ask this but did you get a band?"

"A what?" Shawn asked.

"A band, they say they have something special planned for those who have bands. So did you get one in your invitation?" She asked again, curiosity clearly evident on her face about the band. Shawn got nervous a bit not really knowing what she was speaking off until he remembered the final thing that came in the envelope.

"You mean this thing?" Shawn asked showing her the red fabric. What he didn't expect was the woman to squeal in surprise and then drag him in close.

"Listen, hold onto that but whatever you do don't show it to anyone until it's time for the events to start!" The woman said.

"What event?" Shawn said as he place the band back in his pocket.

"Well I can't tell you that it will spoil the surprise. Now go on and enjoy the place, I got other players to give these PT's too." The woman said as she began to shoo him away as others came to check out the free merchandise. Shawn then just left in silence wondering what she could mean by the bands, he eventually found a place where he could sit down and took his bag off as he relaxed.

"This place really is something, though I wonder what that woman meant about the bands." Shawn side as he then reached into his bag and brought out his Visor and his laptop from his bag. The laptop was a simple, black laptop though his Visor was vastly different from others who kept the default FFW Visor. Shawn's Visor was a full ring, which dark blue except for the sides, which had silver crescent moons. The visual was also a see-through black band that he could retract back into the Visor if he needed to. As he began to plan out where he wanted to go next, an announcement sounded through the Dome getting everyone's attention.

"Attention Guests, the Guild Wars Kick-Off is about to begin. Gather to the second floor where the event can begin."

Shawn then gathered his things and stood up to follow the crowd to the next floor only to accidently bump into someone. The person gave a small gasp as she suddenly stumbled a bit while Shawn's bag fell back on his sitting spot.

"Woah! Sorry!" Shawn said quickly as he looked at the person who bumped into him.

The person was undoubtly female and had a small stature.

She wore a black hooded jacket over a red T-shirt with a paw-print on it and black slacks along with running shoes. Shawn didn't get a good look at her face since she had her head down and her hood was up, which obscured the top half of the girl's face but Shawn could see she had tan skin. He could however see that she was wearing a small black bag-pack. The girl somehow lacked presence, which was probably why Shawn didn't notice her before.

"Are you ok?" asked Shawn in concern.

The girl raised her head slightly and suddenly gave a small smile.

"Yes, thank-you…." the girl said in an almost monotone voice.

"Are you sure?"

"Thank-You, I must go," the girl said bowing before suddenly walking away.

Shawn quirked an eyebrow as he watched the strange girl walk off. "Huh…she's a weird one…" thought Shawn out loud as he reached down for his bag…only to feel the hard surface of the seat.

Widening his eyes, Shawn quickly looked down to see his entire bag was missing save for his A.T's which he placed next to it. "Huh?!" Shawn exclaimed as he quickly looked around the bench and under it when a thought struck him.

The boy quickly popped his head up and looked about for the girl before. Sure enough, there she was, a good distance away carrying not just her bag-pack, but his as well.

"When did she…? HEY!" Before he could fully give chase to the girl he was soon wept up with the crowd. Taking another look, he saw she had vanished inside the crowd of people, Shawn gritted his teeth and began to walk until he felt his foot hit something.

'Wait… is this…?' Shawn then pocketed the item as he went to hear the announcement.

(Scene Change)

When all one thousand invited players were upstairs, they all were greeted with a large coliseum like room. Stands littered the room in a full circle for many to sit in; while in the center were a large screen and two lone seats. Many whispers were going around the stands as people were waiting for the event to start. Soon, the lights dimmed and the screen turned on showing FFW's logo.

"Welcome everyone…all of you here was invited to appear live and view the first battle of the Guild Wars. However; some of you are given an even higher opportunity, because you will get to participate in the Guild Wars themselves!" An announcer explained causing cheers and applause to sound through the stands. "Now all of you sit back, as I leave the explanation to someone who can properly set the stage. As of right now, four people in the crowd have been mailed something special going along with their tickets. These four are given the honor of being involved with the first battle!"

'Of course, guess that's why that woman was telling me about the band.' Shawn thought. Unlike most of his items, his band was placed in his jacket pocket as opposed to his backpack; which he still needed to retrieve back from the unnamed girl.

"The ones with the bands know who they are, but the rest of you do not yet. For now we would like all of you to stand and make your ways to this center arena; the ones with the bands will be taken to another area." Once the Announcer was done, everyone then stood up and were being led out towards the center of the room. Shawn followed the crowd until he showed his band to one of the workers; he was then led to another room.

"I don't know what this game is, but as soon as I get back down to that crowd I'm going to find my things."

"Sounds like your first time here."

Shawn turned to see another one of the chosen four, if the band around his arm was any indicator. The teen had brown hair, tan skin and brown eyes; wearing a Brazillian yellow soccer jersey and khaki shorts along with sneakers. The striking feature of this person as Shawn noted, was unarguably his height as he stood towering over Shawn. "I just guessed from the way you came in here, if I had to guess this must be your first time in a dome; much less here," the boy noted with a Hispanic accent in his voice.

"And you've been here often?" Shawn asked.

"A few times, the people that run this event like to show off some of the Guilds and if you're here that means your guild has been chosen. And from how green you look I say your guild was the wild ballot." The boy continued on ranting.

"Wild ballot?"

"That's right; usually a lot of known guilds take part in these events yet every year a random gear is chosen to even things out and have their chance to exhibit themselves here I the Infinity Dome. Many of us are familiar faces here, but this is the first time I've seen you here." Shawn then saw a girl walk into the room as well. She had red hair tied into twin pigtails at the side of her head, had on a pink and red dress and red shoes, she also had a few accessories such as pink bracelets and ties to hold her hair that matches perfectly with her red band. "Is your guild only starting out?"

"No, we've been in service for a while." Shawn said as he tried to keep his answers vague.

"Hey guys, stop pestering the new guy. I'm sure you'll find out what guild he leads once the first event goes underway. Right now shouldn't you be courteous to him and give him an idea of what's to happen." The three of them looked to the last person that was lounging around; he had long straight black hair and was wearing a white buttoned up collared shirt with black pants and dress shoes.

"Well we can't all be as fancy and charismatic as you Rem, and besides they change the game every year so what's the point of getting him informed if we don't know." The tall boy answered. "By the way; we might as well introduce ourselves. I'm Tulio Pedrosa," Tulio introduced himself. "Miss red and pink is Belle St. Arc" Belle waved her hand as her name was called. "And mister personality down there is Remmington Lovushka, but here among us he's called Rem."

"So what can we call our stranger of the year?" Belle asked curiously.

Seeing the spotlight was on him now, Shawn sighed as he did the polite thing and introduced himself as well. "I'm Shawn McMillan, though you can keep it to Shawn." He said giving out his name. He knew there were small odds they would all meet after this, from their names alone he guessed some of them didn't live in his region.

"Shawn huh, well nice to meet ya'" Tulio said. "You may want to tie your band around your arm; the first event is going to start soon." As he said that they were all soon called to walk out. Once all four of them stealthily hid themselves among the crowd they could hear music playing as a familiar image appear on the screen.

"Hey-Yo! Long time no see! What's happening everybody?!"

Loud cheers and applause instantly began to fill the air as the crowd began to get hyped up.

"That's right yo! After the last big tournament, the higher powers finally decided to pull me out the woodwork and be the official MC for this Kick-Off Par-Tay! If ya don't know me, I am DJ Plugman. YO! Get it memorized y'all because you'll be hearing my voice all war long!" The tube headed DJ said pumping the crowd even more.

"Now this is a bit trippy for me seeing as this party will be starting out here with all of you in the Infinity Dome but we have a special game planned out involving four guilds. Before I explain the game, let's introduced the ones chosen! Three of these aren't a surprise to be here, but the wild slot chosen is one to blow your minds!"

Excited cheers cried out as four empty slots revealed themselves on the screen. The first slot the flipped to reveal a ring of six different colored flowers that created a magic seal in the center. "Our first guild, the FFW definition of all magical girls; these ladies are not to be underestimated for they have great power and know how to use it! Everyone hands for Mahou Bouquet!" The symbol flashed again revealing the members of the guild causing the audience to cheer.

"The next guild isn't one new to the spot light! They are the legendary performers, display all feats of wonder and amazement for your pleasure; whether it is in battle or not. Those brawlers from the Big Tent; Cirque de Circuit!" More cheers came as the Guild's portrait was shown underneath their symbol.

"And here we come to our third selection; these guys have been making many appearances here and are an obvious fan favorite! You know them as one of the more popular guilds in the Guild Wars, the 'Risk-Taking' guild: The All-Stars!" As the All-Stars members appeared on the screen there were a lot of cheers towards the popular guild. Soon all that was left was the last slot as it was slowly being revealed.

"Our fourth guild and our random wild slot is none other than the winners of the Eclipse Tournament! They've been slowly gaining attention and fame since then and are now making a gravity dome debut, everyone give a round applause for Kurotsubasa!" Plugman said as the slot revealed Kurotsubasa's symbol as well as its members.

The was a small pause as many seemed to recognize the members of the guild and caused a few eyes in the crowd to widen as well before the guild received its own degree of cheers and applause as well. Now that all the names of the guilds were displayed, Plugman then gained everyone's attention once again.

"Now our teams have been introduced and decided; all I have to do now is introduce the first game to you. However; I'm afraid I'm not interested in the technical stuff, just on the action people!" Plugman said. "So I'll just have our new announcer explain the games to you. I apologize in advance that she isn't much in the looks department but-ACK!"

Something was suddenly thrown and hit the DJ square in his face, cracking his screen slightly as he soon went unconscious. There was a quick transition and now the person on the screen was a young woman who seems to be straightening herself a bit. She had bright orange hair in braided twin-tails and large round nerdy spiral glasses. The woman wore a pink office suit and skirt. She cleared her throat as she addressed the crowd.

"HI~! Well while my associate takes a while to recover I will take the reins in explaining the games today. My name is Masukomi, FFW's top reporter." Masukomi introduced herself.

"Now the first game is what will be known as Guild scavenger hunt! As you all know, four of you have been given a band signifying them as the guild leaders. Those four will have to go out into the crowd and locate their guild members, be it how large or small they are. The first three to fully assemble their team will move on to the next part with the ones in last place being eliminated." The reporter finished. "The event ends as soon as the last team is formed, so try your best and locate your fellow guild mates so that you may move on to the next event. Are you ready? START!"

Soon the four band-wearing players ventured out into the crowd in search of their fellow members. Shawn was concerned for the game but not as concerned as he was for finding his stolen things. He removed his shoes and used his AT's to quickly comb the crowd of people.

"And here I thought this would just be a normal day, but it keeps getting more and more eventful. I feel like someone up there has it in for me." Shawn said as he kept going with his search. He almost left to another part of the room until he caught eyes of the girl he had met in the airport. "That's goggle girl from before, but wait are those?!" He then sped towards her eyeing the Visor she had in her hand, his Visor.

"What the hey? That girl literally just dropped it in my hands but I what would I want with a random Visor?" The girl thought a loud as she observed the device more. As she paused and seemed to turn the dial on her own Visor she nodded her head. "Right, maybe I can find out who these belong too!" Looking within the band she soon caught a name written on it.

"S…Sha…Shadow…lig…HOLY FRAKUS is this?!"

"I'll be taking that if you don't mind!"

The girl stopped her realization seeing Shawn standing there by her with his hand held out. The brownish blonde haired girl nodded as she slowly gave the Visor back noticing the ban wrapped around his right arm. "Ok, though I didn't expect to be seeing you out here in real life Shads."

"Who are you talking abou…" Shawn stopped as he took another look at the girl. Only a select few people called him that nickname and only in FFW; and looking her over again he almost kicked himself for not noticing the similarity sooner.

"Hey, you might want to stop ogling too much boss man. Otherwise you might have some of my men to deal with." The girl said in good humor.

Shawn then smirked a bit, hiding his humor. "Don't flatter yourself Bella, though seeing as we're not in FFW anymore I need to call you by your name. But, let's leave that for later as we have the others to find." He told her.

"I got it, wanted to save the big reveal until we all met each other." Bella agreed with him. "Well you're the boss so let's go, but why did I end up with your Visor anyway? Having problems keeping up with your things?"

"No, I ended up bumping into this girl when she suddenly swiped them when I wasn't noticing." Shawn told her. "You see her anywhere, a girl wearing a black jacket with the hood up?" He described her to the girl.

"That sounds a lot like the girl that bumped into me and handed me this, she ended up heading that way." Bella then pointed to the direction she last saw the hooded girl take off.

"All right then, event though I'm pressed to finding my things we can look for the others on the way. How fast can you move?" Shawn asked.

"A bit faster than the average bear, why do you ask?" Bella asked, then she now saw the wheels on Shawn's AT's spinning in place and gaining speed.

"I ask because I know I move faster than average." Shawn said as he darted through in the direction that Bella pointed. The girl followed after him, running quickly as to not lose sight at the speeding guild leader.

(Scene Change)

"Man this place is massive and after all that talking to the woman did how am I going to find Shads, much less have him find me." A teenage boy said. He had on an open grey vest and khaki pants with red shoes. A blood red shirt was a black cross on the front, his shirt matching the red fedora hat on his head where his blond hair was hidden slightly. "How the bloody hell exactly am I going to find Shadow?"

"Hey Shads slow down!"

"Stop yelling that name out in the crowd and help me look for her, I have a feeling we're close!"

The boy then stopped his pondering seeing Shawn and Bella zoom pass nearby in the crowd. "Guess that's one way to have my questions answered. Though I wish the universe would give me other freebies." He said as he ran after the two.

With Shawn and Bella, they had stopped to gather their bearings so that they could stop the process of randomly searching through the crowd and moving in circles. The two could see the screen showing the guilds, telling how each was fairing. All-Stars and Mahou Bouquet seemed to have both found two of their members, leaving Kurotsubasa tied with Cirque de Circuit; though the two knew they had to speed up the process before they were left behind.

"It's going to take forever at this rate to find the others." Shawn lamented as he tried to think of a strategy.

"Now hold on, we're not giving up yet." Bella said. "Maybe if we ask hard enough the others will show up." She suggested.

"Yeah, might as well say the thief will give me my things back if I ask nicely." Shawn said. "Seriously Bella, I don't think it would be that easy to find everyone and even if they are looking for us as well what are the odds we run into them?" He asked.

"I say pretty well," The two stopped to see a hat-wearing boy walking to them with a black bag in his hand. "I believe this belongs to you Shadow, or whatever your real name is." He said as they both heard a slight British accent from him. Shawn took the bag and nodded accepting it as he shook his hand.

"Guess with that hat, I would've guessed it was you DB." Shawn said.

"Hey, Hellsing will always be one of my favorites. So I see you found Bella already, or at least I think she's Bella." DB guessed.

"That's right D, I may not be as awesome as I am in FFW but it's still me." Bella answered. "Hey where did you get that bag from?" She asked as Shawn proceeded to look through his backpack to see what he was missing.

"Let's see, around the time we were all moving a girl slipped it to me. I figured she must have forgotten about it so I kept it for safekeeping. I wanted to hand it back to her when I saw her, but you're saying that bag is yours Shads?" DB asked.

Shawn nodded his head. "That's right, we're doing this first challenge but I'm also looking for that same girl. She took my things and for some reason has been giving them out. All I'm missing now are my laptop and my new PT." He explained.

"Harsh man, those PT's are supposed to store all of our data right? Who knows what someone would do with that." DB said, knowing how much potential danger that was.

"That's why finding this thief is my number 1 priority." Shawn said.

"Hey, don't forget about the game too." Bella reminded him.

"I know Bella, but I have to find my things too. My whole life was basically in this bag and I want everything back." Shawn said.

"Well you said you were missing two things, and you found two things from us. Think this person could know that we were all in the same Guild?" DB asked.

"Maybe, but I'll save interrogating for later when we run into her." Shawn said. "I have backups of everything on that laptop but that PT is something I have to get back. Just imagining what that thief could be doing with all my data is making me worry, especially for Amaya."

"Well that only gives us more reason to find this thief right?" Bella said confidently.

"Don't worry we'll help you look." DB said. "Now let's find where your PT could have gone. Imagine the horror if someone else found out you were…"

"Shadowlight0982, known mostly as Shadow, age 19 and resides in America within the North America Server yet spends most of his time in the Infinity Server."

The three members of Kurotsubasa then spied a person reading off a dark blue PT, which Shawn immediately identified as his. He had short black hair and a slight olive tan skin. The young man was wearing a blue t-shirt with black jeans and black combat boots with a black trench coat over his outfit. "I never had an idea your collection was this massive and that you had so many treasures collected. You really need to know how to keep closer eye on your things Shadow." The man said with a slight Hispanic accent.

"Thanks for the advice, but I'll be taking that back if you don't mind?" Shawn said sarcastically as he had intent on taking the device back. He could care less if a random stranger learned his game identity, just as long as he didn't tamper with his data.

"I don't, though maybe I should test you to see if you are the real Shadow." The young man said. He then raised his free hand and held up one finger. "Now here's my question, what is the keyblade you gave to me when we met?" He asked.

"That's not a fair question, how is he supposed to know who you are?" DB asked, holding back as he was thinking of ways of swiping the device from the stranger without damaging it in the process.

"Well how am I supposed to know he's really Shadow? He could just be a very convincing impersonator, and even so the real Shadow would know what I was talking about." The mysterious teen explained.

"Well, that doesn't matter because I can say that this is the real Shads, so if you don't give him back what belongs to him…" Bella paused and was about to finish her statement until she was cut off by Shawn.

"Ultima Weapon"

The two stopped, hearing Shadow give his answer. "The keyblade was Ultima Weapon, one of the rare ones hard to find because it can't be synthesized correctly unless on can do it themselves or knows where to look. I got it out of a dungeon raid where I gave it to a certain someone because I didn't have a need for keyblades." He continued his explanation as he saw a small smile on the teen's face. "But you know that story, don't you Key?"

Key nodded his head and grinned as he tossed the PT to Shawn, which he caught. "Got it right in one, though what is something that important doing away from you? It was given to me by some girl but before I could ask any questions she took off running." Key explained how he came across the PT. "Care to explain it to me?" He asked.

"I'll tell you as we keep moving; we still have three things to do." Shawn said as he placed the PT in his pockets.

"Three things?" Key asked.

"Catching the thief, finding Kitty and Owl girl, and finding his laptop." Bella listed them out.

"And in no particular order." DB said. "Though it looks like all his lost things ends up with one of us, so if we find either Illu or Ravena that kills two birds with one stone. Not to mention I think we're in the lead with finding our Guild mates since we don't have so many."

"I don't know about lead, but I agree that we should continue looking for the rest of Kurotsubasa." Key said.

"Ok then, we haven't checked near the center yet so that's our next destination." Shawn said as he led them all through the crowd, hopefully towards the next member of Kurotsubasa and the final piece of his stolen items.

(FFW)

"MOH! Baka Chokobo-Niisan! Where could he have gone?" a Japanese girl with auburn hair lamented as she looked about the crowd. She had lovely fair skin and sea green eyes. She also wore a light sea-green colored dress that went down to her knees with puffy short sleeves with white sleeves that flare out at the wrists underneath the green sleeves and her favorite knee high brown boots. At her side was a small camera case.

The girl had previously arrived on the island with her brothers but they got separated in the big rush. The girl was so busy searching the crowd that she didn't realize that someone was trailing behind her until….

"Poke." A voice said followed by a sudden poke to the girl's ribs.

"Kya!" squeaked the girl who jumped in the air surprise, suddenly whipping around to see a short girl wearing a black jacket with the hood obscuring half her face clutching a laptop looking at her. All of a sudden, the girl handed the laptop to the other.

"Neko ni shitagatte kudasai…." the girl said before suddenly smiling and bowing politely before taking off.

The Japanese girl tilted her head in confusion as she watched the stranger run off. "What was her deal?"

"HEY!" a loud male voice suddenly called out making the girl jump again in surprise, almost dropping the laptop in her hands but was fortunately able to recover in time, making her heave a big sigh of relief.

"Phew! Close!" sighed the girl.

"Excuse me Miss, but I think that's mine," said the voice again.

The girl slowly turned around to see the speaker was a African-American boy her age followed by a three other people behind him.

"Excuse me?" the girl asked politely in confusion.

"That laptop you're holding, did a strange girl suddenly pass it to you?" he asked quickly.

The girl nodded in response as the others finally caught up. "Shads! Did you find something?" one of the boys with the fedora asked making the girl widen her eyes in recognition.

"Yeah!" Shawn replied when suddenly the girl said something that made something click within the boy.

"Shadow-kun?" the girl asked unsurely making Shawn turn back to the girl.

The others all raised their eyebrows as they exchanged looks with each other when suddenly the one girl in the group gave an excited squeal.

"No freaking way! Owl-girl?!" she exclaimed.

"Eh?! Uso! Bella-chan?!" the Japanese girl exclaimed as well while Shawn quickly took back his laptop as the two girls began squealing in excitement as Bella suddenly swept Illu into a big hug and bounced about happily.

"Ohmigosh! Ohmigosh! Illu! We found you!" squealed Bella as she swung Illu about.

"AH! Don't spin me!"

"For god's sake Bella put her down!" scolded Shawn as he lightly slapped Bella on the head making her put Illu down. "We finally meet Illu."

Illu smiled happily and bowed in greeting. "If you're Shadow, and you're Bella then the others must be…."

"DB and Key in the flesh, Chica~!" said Key cheerfully while DB gave a salute.

Shawn smiled a bit but quickly called the group to attention. "Come on guys, let's save the introductions for later. That's five of us and the last of my stuff found but we still have to find Ravena."

"But how? You just said we ran out of stuff and unless Ravena is actually born with cat ears and a tail, none of us has even the first idea about her," noted DB.

"And we still got that thief to find!" added Bella while Shawn suddenly considered something.

"I might have an idea…" said Shawn suddenly as he turned to Illu. "Illu, the girl that handed my laptop to you, did you notice anything about her?"

Illu thought a bit before shaking her head when she suddenly recalled something. "Wait! She did say something before she took off!"

"What did she say?"

"She said 'Neko ni shitagatte kudasai….', It means ' Follow the cat' in Japanese," explained Illu.

"Follow the cat? Seriously?!" exclaimed Bella and DB at the same time incredulously.

"What is that even supposed to mean?" asked Key when the group suddenly heard a meow, alerting them to look down to see a black cat looking at them.

"Meow~!" it mewed before suddenly taking off.

"Quick! After it!" commanded Shawn as the others quickly obeyed and chased after the feline.

The cat ran down a path through a garden before suddenly turning a corner. As the group followed, the group began to notice more stray cats running past them in the same direction as the one they were following.

After turning another corner, the group finally saw the cats heading towards a park bench in particular where a small person sat. It was the girl who had swiped Shawn's stuff earlier, sitting all by herself save for the cats and kittens rolling at her feet or cuddling next to her as she tossed cat treats to them.

"That's her; she's the one that passed me your laptop." Illu said, as the group went to confront her.

The girl had a look of serenity on her face, or at least the part they could see that wasn't hidden by the shadows of her hood as she fed the kittens around her. She then stopped as she looked over to the group. "Sleek, graceful and carefree…Cats are perfect that way…don't you agree?"

"Gatos are one thing, but I don't think anything was graceful about you being a thief." Key said, getting straight to the point. "So why did you go through the trouble of stealing our friend's things and giving it to us? What's your angle?"

"Angle, not much, if I had any ulterior motive it would be to help you win this event." The girl said stroking the head of a purring kitten that climbed on her shoulder.

"Win the event, what do you mean by that?" Bella asked confused.

"Help us win? The only way we can win is if all of our guild members meet up and gather. How did you know who we all were?" Illu asked in a nervous voice. She wasn't comfortable with the fact a stranger knew her identity online as well as here.

"I'll admit it was hard to figure out who some of you are, though you all shared some of the same interests that leads to your FFW selves. All it took was to put the pieces together." The girl explained. "And so we all finally meet. Nice to finally meet Kurotsubasa face-to-face."

"All right enough with the games and tricks, just who are you?!" DB asked again with everyone else, starting to lose patience.

"You guys can't tell?" Shawn said, catching everyone's surprise.

"What do you mean?" Illu asked.

"She said meet Kurotsubasa face-to-face; she can't say that unless every member is here." Shawn said. "Isn't that right, Ravena?" He asked shocking the others a bit with his guess.

"Ravena, are you joking?"

"How can someone that mysterious be anything like Ravena?"

"What makes you say that?"

Those were several questions asked be the others but were all stopped by the sound of hands clapping together softly. Once again, everyone's attention was on the girl. "It's about time you figured it out; we finally meet at last Shadow." She then took down her hood to reveal familiar brown curly hair and dark brown eyes behind a pair of red metal half-rimmed glasses.

In order prove Shawn's point, the girl removed her glasses and wore a pair of cat ears. Suddenly as if a switch was turned on, the girl suddenly smiled and brightened. "Ara~nya~! You found me, Nyano~!" she said in a familiar tone.

"EEEEEEHH?!" exclaimed the others in shock as Ravena replaced her glasses and took off the headband before resuming her initial expression.

Ravena got off her seat and walked over to the group while most of them were pulling their jaws off the ground. "I see my plan worked and you got everyone together; otherwise you might have been able to catch me before the event could start."

"You could've just told me who you were instead of leading us on this goose chase." Shawn said.

"Where's the fun in that? Sure you could have asked a thousand people who their identities are and get lucky but you could only figure out who we were by remembering our personalities." Ravena said. "All in all, I say you could've moved a bit faster."

"Well all this time I thought I had to chase down a thief." Shawn objected.

"Keep a closer eye on your things then." Ravena said, adjusting her glasses.

"I will…once you take your own advice." Shawn said confusing her. He then pulled something out of his pocket; a keychain. It was a small doll keychain that looked like it was high quality but those around could tell it was handmade. All of Kurotsubasa's eyes widened a bit when they saw that the doll on the keychain was Punnya. "It slipped off your bag after we bumped into each other. Guess you could say I ended up with a big hint."

"Touche."

Before anymore words could be said they all heard the sound of a timer going off.

"All teams return back to the central room, three guilds have succeeded in finding all of their members. Please make your way back so that we may see the results, those who do not show up will forfeit their rights to compete!" They all heard Masukomi's voice say.

"I guess it's time we make our way back; I hope that we got into the next round." Illu said.

"I hope so, I don't want this crazy cat chase to just be for nothing." DB said.

"Well we'll find out once we get there. Let's go everyone." Shawn said after handing the keychain back to Ravena for her to reattach to her bag. They can all see she had keychains of everyone in the guild but they decided to save questions until after the games.

(Scene Change)

"Well it was a really exciting round, seeing the leaders go out and round up their entire guild members. However; only three guilds can move on! You can all see everyone that all four teams have an impressive number of people present!" Masukomi said as the teams stood in the center of the room. Kurotsubasa saw that standing around Belle were four others girls of different ages; the All-Stars also had five members all together and they saw that the Circus had four people standing together.

"From the number of members and the times, the three guilds moving on to the next game are…" the reporter continued with a long pause making the groups nervous; seeing all their waiting faces Masukomi giggled a bit before reporting the final results. "First place in finding all their members is Mahou Bouquet; guess those girls really know a lot about each other! And in Second would be the All-Stars!" Those results got people congratulating both guilds with rounds of applause.

"And now third place, with both sides taking so much time; the winners with all their members present on stage is…Kurotsubasa!" The reporter said with people now clapping for the guild.

"We won; didn't we go down to the wire though?" DB asked.

"Maybe…" They turned to see Rem who didn't have a disappointed look on his face. "I found out close to the end that all my members weren't present. By the time I knew the time ran out, so congratulations on your victory. Most new guilds never make it past the first game." Rem explained.

"That's a cheap way for us to win; you should have told the officials." Shawn said.

Rem then shrugged. "It doesn't matter, in the end our Guild exists for entertaining the masses and we succeeded in that. There isn't much we can do entertainment wise until the last event, but we'll always have FFW." With that, Rem and the rest of Cirque de Circuit left the stage leaving the three winning teams.

"Now that our teams have been reduced to three we will proceed to the next event. Our officials will escort the team out to the next arena; the rest of you can sit tight until we set up for the next challenge."

With that, the crowd all went to find their seats in the large rooms. The guilds were led out of three different hallways back to outside, continued being led by their escorts Kurotsubasa soon found themselves outside in front of a large maze. Before any questions could be asked they saw the security guards heading back into the building. All eyes were on the entrance to the maze.

"This is the next challenge; they want to run us through the maze like mice?" Bella asked as she eyed the beginning steps. "How exactly is this going to work?" She asked as she lightly tapped the walls framing the entrance.

"Well it's a maze, so the goal has to be to get through it. Possibly reaching a goal or finding something inside." Key guessed, trying to use some logic.

"Right you are!"

A voice rang from all of their pockets. Illu was the first to check and pulled out her new, lavender colored, PT and saw the image of Masukomi on her screen. "It's Masukomi-san!" Illu said as she held the PT for all of them to see the reporter.

"Kurotsubasa, the goal is to reach the center of the maze; however, there are several rules to this race. If you haven't noticed, anything on your person with a GPS unit has been disabled; it's a way to prevent cheating. Another thing is that it's almost impossible to scale the walls, though if you try to go through or over a wall the guild is immediately disqualified." She explained. "Other than that, use everything on your person to reach the finish."

"Is that really all of the rules, or are there any penalties you forgot to mention?" Ravena asked.

"Well since you asked nicely, the other teams have been given different edges to help them through some of the trials of the maze. Since you came in last, you will receive no such edge. OH! And there are a couple of obstacles in there, so good luck~!" Masukomi answered. "The race begins now, so I suggest you all get going!" She then vanished, allowing Illu to place her PT away.

"Guess it's time to storm the castle right!" DB proceeded to walk forward only to be stopped by Shawn.

"Hold on a second, race or not, a maze is a maze. We need to be smart about this." Shawn said as he walked ahead with a hand placed on the left wall. "Standard rule, we keep our hands to the left and work from there. It's not quick but we'll make it somewhere eventually."

"No offense boss, but wouldn't be faster if we split up and cover more ground?" Bella asked as they all followed him inside staying to the left hand side of the maze.

"I think a rule is, to have every member present once we reached the end. Even if we do split up, there's no way of us to keep in touch with each other." Key theorized. "They said we can use anything on our person, but I don't think our phones are working after being disabled here. So not much we can do to keep in touch."

Ravena looked like she was going to say something but Illu beat her to it. "Actually…I think I could fix our phones so that they can still communicate, but the problem would be if we separate too far from each other." She said, she also looked like she had something else to say but refrained from saying what was on her mind.

"I have a feeling my methods wouldn't work here either, but then again I wouldn't want any cats running lost and loose in this maze." Ravena said bluntly. Kurotsubasa then made it to a closed off room where they saw a mirror resting on a pedestal in the center and three locked doors in front of them.

"Dead end," DB said. "I don't think we can open a door with a mirror."

"Maybe we can, who knows this could be some kind of futuristic mirror that they left in here for us." Bella said getting close to the mirror. "It could be the key itself."

"It could be there is also something written on the back." Ravena said. They all gathered to the mirror to see the name written on the back. In a calligraphy-like style, the name was inscribed on the mirror read Yata no Kagami.

"Yata no Kagami…wait I sort of know what that is. It's a sacred treasure." Key said.

"Right, Yata no Kagami is one of the three imperial regalia of Japan. Though what sort of clue of that?" Ravena asked. "If we had an edge, maybe we could have an idea of what to do with it." The girl said seeing as they couldn't remove the mirror from the pedestal after trying.

"Maybe we don't need an edge; the clue could be right in front of us." Illu said causing the rest of Kurotsubasa to look at her for an explanation. "Yata no Kagami is a sacred treasure but it goes back into mythology as well. It was the mirror used to lure Amaterasu when she hid herself within a mountain." She explained.

"Amaterasu being the goddess of the sun" Shawn then looked up to the ceiling and saw a small sealed opening and what looked like a switch. "Guess we got to get sunlight into this room, that switch looks like it can open the roof."

"Great, none of us can make it up there though." DB said as they all looked at the opening.

"Maybe we can all get on each other shoulders until we reach it." Bella suggested.

"I don't know Bella-chan; it looks a bit unsafe to be trying something like that." Illu said in worry with a hand clutched on her heart.

"Also unnecessary" Shawn said as he reached down to the AT's he was still wearing and adjusted them slightly and tightened the laces. "We just got to flip the switch; I can do that in a second."

"I saw how quick you were going through the crowd with those skates but do they really have the jumping power as well. Speed is one thing but the ceiling is high up, we're talking about flight." Ravena said.

"Then it's a good thing I'm tall, stand back." Shawn said as with the flip of a switch the AT's came to life, wheels screeching as they whirled against the ground. Bracing himself, he then did a large jump aiming at one of the walls. Using the skates he then proceeded to ride up the walls.

"Sugoi, real AT's!" Illu exclaimed in awe.

"I've seen a lot of pretend skates online and videos, but no one has ever tried to do the real thing." DB said impressed. They all then watched as Shawn eventually reached the switch and flipped it before making his descent to earth.

"Wall riding is frightening, I don't usually try it. Though I do have some experience testing these things." Shawn said. From the ceiling a ray of sunlight was sent down and reflected off the mirror to a point above one of the doors; they all heard two clicking sounds as the door then slid open.

"Just like the story, the mirror was used to lure the light out." Illu said. Kurotsubasa then continued on forward to the room, before she left however, Illu took a final look at the mirror. Testing it now, she was able to remove the mirror. Tucking the mirror into her bag, she then followed the others further in. There was no telling what else an imperial treasure could be used for in this challenge.

(The next room)

Kurotsubasa soon found themselves in a large room with a very high ceiling decorated with question marks and two large squares in the middle.

"Woah, who decorated this place? The Riddler?" asked Bella raising her eyebrows when the door behind them suddenly slammed shut.

"Well if it isn't Kurotsubasa," a new voice sounded out alerting the group to turn their heads to the group of girls entering through a different door that also slammed shut as well.

"Belle," greeted Shawn with a nod.

"Shawn," said the leader of Mahou Bouquet, returning the greeting when a hologram of Masukomi appeared before them.

"Welcome Mahou Bouquet and Kurotsubasa~! You two have just stepped into the Short-Cut Challenge~" greeted the reporter cheerfully as trumpets begin to fanfare. "In this room, both Guilds are to compete in a challenge. The winners will be directed to a special route that will lead them closer to the goal while the losing team will have to take a detour~! Once you're in you can't leave until the challenge is complete!"

"Please step onto the squares to begin~!"

Both Guilds briefly exchanged looks before complying and stepping on to the squares. No sooner did they do so, guard rails suddenly sprung up around each Guild as a motor sounded, causing both squares to begin rising into columns for about two storeys tall before it stopped.

Suddenly, Shawn felt something grasp at his jacket as he looked around to see Ravena trembling while closing her eyes tightly.

"Kitty, you ok?" asked Bella in concern for her friend.

Ravena shook her head. "I'm….I'm terrified of heights!" she squeaked.

"HUH?!" exclaimed everyone in disbelief.

"But you can fly!" pointed out DB incredulously.

"Only in the game…. But in the Real World I get terrified of being in high places…"

Before anyone else could get a word in, Masukomi's hologram appeared floating before the two teams.

"Ok Players~! This Short-Cut challenge is a battle of Brains! You need to win if you want to take the Short-Cut!" Masukomi began to explain as a pair of Buzzer buttons appeared before each Guild, a red one for Mahou Bouquet and a Blue one for Kurotsubasa.

"I'm going to ask five questions on FFW, answer correctly and your opponent's platform will drop bit by bit~! Are you ready?~"

"YEAH!" came the response from both Guilds.

"Quiz Time Start!" cheered Masukomi as the first question illuminated above her.

"Question 1: As you all know, the Dome we are currently in is called the Infinity Dome. What are the names of the six other Domes located Worldwide?"

BZZZZZT! Went Mahou Bouquet's buzzer without hesitation as Belle smiled confidently.

"Future Dome, Centro do Karneval, Player Palace, Diety Drive, Temple of Ra and the Coastal Center," the girl said calmly as a bell sounded indicating the correct answer.

Kurotsubasa's platform shuddered as it slowly dropped a bit as its occupants all hung on to the sides.

"Kya!" squeaked Illu and Ravena as they clung to each other while Key frowned looked at the other Guild who was currently cheering for their Leader.

"This isn't going to be easy, that girl didn't even try to think!" exclaimed DB, clearly impressed.

"Not if I can help it," declared Key as he steadied himself by the button as Question two appeared.

"Question 2: The Reception Center is located in….?"

BZZT! "Tokyo City," answered Belle once more with so much as batting an eye as she beat Key to the Buzzer much to his disbelief. The bell sounded once more indicating her answer as correct much to the frustration of Kurotsubasa.

"Darn it!" growled Key in annoyance.

"Cool it Key, getting angry isn't going to help," said Shawn patting his friend's shoulder to calm him.

"Yeah Key! Let me handle the Buzzer pressing, and you guys do the thinking," suggested Bella.

Key took a deep breath and nodded as he stepped aside, letting Bella take the reins as she cracked her knuckles and braced herself for the next question.

"Advantage: Mahou Bouquet!" announced Masukomi as Kurotsubasa's platform lowered once more before the next question revealed itself.

"Question 3: The first group of Players in FFW were known as….?"

BZZZT! Went Kurotsubasa's buzzer this time as Bella's fast reflexes allowed her to quickly slammed her hand on the buzzer this time, finally beating the other team to the punch.

"The Beta-Movement!" exclaimed Key confidently as the bell rang, finally earning Kurotsubasa their first point.

"Yatta! Finally!" cheered Illu as their platform finally began to rise while Mahou Bouquet's went down, finally leveling the two teams once more.

"Just two more and we'll win this!" urged DB while Bella nodded in agreement.

"Let's do this," said Shawn while Ravena finally composed herself and nodded her head and smiled.

The two Guilds exchanged competitive looks with each other as the fourth question appeared.

"Question 4: What are the three Rare-Types of Beast-Manju?"

BZZT! "Kodai, Jewel and Mahou- Manju!" exclaimed Ravena this time as soon as Bella slammed the Buzzer. Another chime sounded indicating another win as this time Kurotsubasa rose above their opponent.

"Alright Rave!" cheered DB slapping the girl a high-five while Ravena smirked and readjusted her glasses.

"Only one left guys!" noted Illu anxiously while the others began to exchange heated glares with the other team.

"Ok People~! We are tied 2-2 for both teams~! This final question will decide who gets to leave through the Short-Cut!" announced Masukomi as a drum-roll began to sound off, building up the suspense before the final question revealed itself.

"Final Question: What is the most Powerful artifact in FFW?"

There was a brief silence in the room that was quickly followed up by murmurs as Mahou Bouquet began to discuss their answer while the members of Kurotsubasa simply exchanged looks and smiled at each other knowingly as Shawn stepped up to the Buzzer and sounded it.

BZZZT!

"Kurotsubasa, before you answer I must remind you, answer wrongly and your opponent wins the challenge, do you want to proceed?" asked Masukomi while Shawn looked at the others who gave him looks of encouragement and confidence before he nodded.

"Yes, Ma'am," replied Shawn earning a nod of approval from the reporter.

"Very well, what is your answer?"

"The most Powerful Artifact of FFW is…." Shawn began to say before smiling confidently. "The Wings of Creation."

DING! DING! DING!

Bells chimed loudly as confetti and balloons streamed down from the ceiling with trumpet fanfare.

"YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! WINNER: KUROTSUBASA~~~!" cheered Masukomi happily as the Guild began cheering in victory as a door slid open and a walkway appeared, connecting to the platform allowing Kurotsubasa to proudly make their forward while a trap-door opened on Mahou Bouquet's platform, causing the all-female Guild to fall through screaming as they disappeared.

Ravena swallowed heavily while Illu breathed a sigh of relief before the two quickly trotted after their friends over the walkway and into the next step of the maze as the door closed behind them.

"Well we got lucky, coming down to that last question." Shawn said. "Only a few people would know the real answer to that question, the one time I used it in public was the Eclipse Tournament and I'm sure I didn't do it to its full potential."

"Hey let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, we got through the challenge and got the shortcut. We're closer to the end and, if we're lucky, just took our competition out of the ranking." DB said.

"That's one way of looking at it." Shawn said back as they went back to navigating the turns of the maze. While going through the manmade labyrinth, Bella decided to make small talk with the rest of the group.

"So…I'm surprised you and owl-girl are afraid of heights." Bella said, in honesty. "Though it was funny seeing you girls clutch the closet thing in sight."

"I told you before; I don't do well in high places. Even on the flight I tried hard not to think of how high we were. I was relieved when the flight was over." Ravena said.

"It happened so suddenly and I wasn't prepared, you can't say that didn't startle you even a little bit Bella-chan." Illu admitted.

"In the end, it was actually pretty fun; I wonder what else they got in store for us." Bella smiled as she looked onward. "Maybe some undiscovered treasure, or possible hidden booby traps!" She said getting excited while the others looked her nervously.

"Calm down Bella, it's just a company made maze, I don't think they would go that far. Don't put your expectations up that high." Key said.

"But now I'm even more excited!" Bella said, stars sparkling in her eyes.

"Let's hope no one watching is paying attention to you." DB said before bumping into something. As he steadied himself seeing he accidently bumped into Shawn. "Hey Shads, why did you stop?"

"The next room is right there." Shawn said, pulling their attention to the entrance to the next area.

"Then why are we standing around, let's go!" Bella said, waling forward before Shawn could stop her. Kurotsubasa walked into the room after her to try and stop her only for the door to close behind them; before one of them could try for the exit as it then sealed in front of them as well.

"Well, ask and you shall receive." Ravena said, looking at Bella who was nervously chuckling.

"So what's the gimmick of this room?" Shawn said. This time the room was well lit enough for them to see around, though one wall got their attention immediately. The wall had a small sliding tile puzzle, with numerous pieces to it. Soon a ringing was heard and they received another message from their announcer.

"You won the shortcut and covered much ground, though you didn't think that winning would be as easy as continuing did you?" Masukomi said in a lecturing tone. "Give us some credit; we got to keep this interesting for you as well as our viewers."

'Great and I forgot this was all live on the channel too.' Shawn said as they looked to Illu's PT. "So you have us trapped in the room, I guess the puzzle is supposed to be a key to getting out?" He asked.

"Precisely, though there are two ways to solve this puzzle. As you can see one wall possesses a puzzle, but it is very time consuming to solve it; it could very well take away the lead you've earned from the last challenge." Masukomi said. "The second way is faster, though it's difficulty is much harder."

"What's the other challenge then?" Key asked.

"The second challenge went along well with your first, I'm surprised you solved it when you didn't received a hint. The hints we gave the other teams matches what I will tell you now, the three treasures light the way to victory." She said leaving the group confused. "One of those tiles is a secret switch that will open the way out, though it would be almost impossible to open by just touching a random tile."

"Then how exactly do we solve this puzzle?" Illu asked.

"That is what you must figure out; hurry…your competition is slowly getting closer! Good luck!" With that Masukomi's image faded.

"So we got a puzzle and a riddle." Ravena said walking to the wall. "Though what kind of image should be made with this wall?" She could make out small things like what looked like flowers and maybe a robe but couldn't guess to what the image is.

"We can stay here and plan out how to solve this but we do need an image. Even if we did, the puzzle will take too long." Shawn said. "First of all I know where the picture is."

"Really, where is it?" DB asked.

"We're standing on it." Shawn said causing all of them to look down to see that there was a large image in the center of the floor. The image was that of a white dog with flowers around its paws and what seemed to be a mirror on its back. Swirling around the dog was also a long string of beads.

"Okami! I used to play this game a bunch of times, especially with Sera-chan!" Illu said a bit excitedly. "Though if that is the image we can start unscrambling the puzzle right? How did you see it so quickly Shadow-kun?"

"The reason I stopped earlier was because I noticed how different the floor was from the one we previously was. Before I could assess it further Bella just rushed in." Shawn said seeing the girl wince a bit and looked to the side.

"Yeah, my bad!"

Key took a look at the floor and the puzzle. "So now we got the image we have to make, but it would take a while since it is a complex puzzle. It looks like it has more than a hundred tiles."

"Or one thousand." Ravena added as she tried to get to work on the puzzle. "Maybe there was an extra clue back in the last room. If only we could've taken the mirror."

"Oh, the mirror came loose after the puzzle was solved. I brought it with me just in case." Illu then opened her bag and brought out the mirror. "What did Masukomi-san say; the three treasures would light the way?"

DB shrugged. "Possibly, Illu you know a lot about the treasures more than us. What are the other two?"

Illu nodded as she looked to the mirror in her arms. "The three treasure, refer to the imperial regalia of Japan; national treasures. You could say there are similar to, the crown jewels of other countries." DB nodded, understanding what she was saying. Everyone was silent, waiting for her to continuing (causing Illu to become embarrassed a small bit). "Well we have the mirror Yata no Kagami, the next would be the sword Kusanagi; think of it as…Japan's Excalibur."

"And the final treasure?" Key asked.

"The last is the Yasakani no Magatama, a special jewel in the shape of a comma. Those are the three treasures." Illu finished explaining.

"Well this picture surely does have magatama in them; maybe this is another light puzzle." Ravena said. "May I?" With a nod, Illu handed the mirror to the spectacled girl. Angling the mirror to reflect some light, they were able to cause a few parts of the puzzle to sparkle a bright jade color. Soon eight magatama, matching the picture, were glowing as well as some few odd beads.

"I was sure lighting up the magatama would work, maybe we're missing something." Ravena said, seeing more beads light up. She then put the mirror down to look at Shawn, who was silent. "Any ideas, leader?"

"Give me a second," Shawn then reached into his bag. A few of them were interested in what he would possibly be pulling out, though were surprised to see it was just a case containing a pair of glasses.

"Glasses, I don't think this is the time for reading Shads." Bella said.

Shawn ignored the joke as he placed the half framed, glasses in front of his eyes. "I need them to see the puzzle better; I just don't like wearing them constantly." He admitted as he saw the puzzle more focused now. After what seemed like a long moment of analyzing the puzzle, the picture, and the glowing pieces he came to a conclusion.

"We've missed one important thing." Shawn said.

"How, the treasure is obviously the Magatama so shouldn't the door open now that they all are glowing?" Key asked.

"No, even the magatama themselves were a hint." Shawn said, seeing a few confused faces he stooped down placing a hand on the image. "The magatama was our hint, but remember the picture and the puzzle are of Okami or specifically the character Amaterasu. What were her weapons in the game?"

"That's easy Shads; Ammy used the mirror, swords, and beads as weapons." DB answered. "Anyone who has played the game for a bit knows that."

"But I bet there was one thing you don't remember from the game." Shawn then turned to Illu. "Illu, you played the game, do you remember the special side quest the game had?"

"Side quest?" Illu thought for a bit before shaking her head. "Gomen, I mostly play for completion sake, Sera-chan knew the most about it and guided me through it when I get stuck. I would never check online sites."

Shawn nodded as he kept his hand on the large string of beads revolving around the white wolf. "The side quest was collecting the many stray beads that were hidden around the game, you have to find all 100 beads to unlock a special prize at the end as well as receive the most powerful magatama weapon in the game." Shawn then stood to his feet. "There are eight magatama glowing and one hundred beads, they come together to make 108 prayer beads…"

"The same type that Buddist Monks use!" Illu yelled out. "Sugoi, I didn't think Okami went that far in symbolism!"

"So we need to have all 108 beads in the picture glowing, it could take a while." Ravena said as she picked back up the Mirror to continue.

"Maybe we could speed up the process!" Bella reached into her satchel and brought out a flashlight. "Never leave home without supplies, plus my folks were worried about the plane crashing and me getting stranded somewhere." She said as she handed the flashlight to Ravena.

"Don't say plane and crash in the same sentence please." Ravena then used the light from the flashlight to illuminate more of the wall, covering the whole picture and having all 108 beads glow. Soon they heard the rumbling of the exit as the door opened; Kurotsubasa then packed up and continued towards the end.

"Shadow-kun, where exactly did you learn about the 108 beads?" Illu asked curiously.

"Well Okami wasn't the first place I heard of something like that, it was actually the third. I did research on why beads were symbolic in Japan's history and discovered it." Shawn admitted as he put his glasses away. "I'm just full of random information."

"Random or not, you've got us out of the room." DB smiled as they continued. "And Masukomi said we were close to the end, we're home free I can feel it!" He said as they noticed the lack of branching paths on their route to the finish.

"Though we did take a while to solve the puzzle, we don't know if the girls made it back to catching up with us or if the All-Stars have finished…" Key said.

"Come on, don't be a downer Key." Bella said.

"I'm not a downer, I'm being realistic." Key said back.

"Well I'm seeing a trend, we've got a mirror and I remember the leader of Mahou Bouquet had a necklace with a jade magatama on around her neck." Ravena remembered back. "If it's following the Imperial Treasures like Illu said, then the All-Stars must have the Kusanagi sword."

"It's a good guess; maybe the treasures mean something once we reached the end." Illu said as they continued walking. She took a second and reached into her bag and took out a professional camera. She then took a picture of the floor's art before continuing with the group.

"All I want to know is why we've been going through so many puzzles, this is a Gravity Dome! A place where people can meet and battle, when can we start some actual fighting?!" Bella raved on.

"What do you expect, every year the battles are the last game of the kickoff; if we make it to the end you'll get your wish." Key said.

"And good news to that, it's a straight end ahead." Shawn said pointing forward. It was a straight walkway to the next room, and since they didn't see anything like the outside to the Dome then it must be the center. "We've gotten far guys, let's finish this game." He said as they, this time, took their time to the next room.

Kurotsubasa entered, they were hoping, the final room as they allowed the door to close behind them. They were patient until they saw the door in front of them open, though instead of them going through they heard the sounds of footsteps. Tulio came into the room with the rest of his guild. They could see in his left hand was a large, decorated sword which he rested on his shoulder.

"Well look what we got here; I was thinking we wouldn't see anyone to the end." Tulio said. "Glad to know you guys are still in the game, new blood is always a good thing for the kickoff." He said.

"Same I could say to you, we've seen Mahou Bouquet though I was thinking if we were ever going to run into you guys down here." Shawn said.

Before anymore words could be said, there was a large clearing ring going through the room. Soon on a screen on the wall they could see Masukomi smiling at them. "We're down to the last event, Kurotsubasa and All-Stars are the first two to clear our maze, testing their abilities with that of each relics properties!"

"Properties?" Each guild looked at their regalia as Masukomi continued.

"Kurotsubasa was given the path of the Mirror and passed all their tests while All-Stars faced the trials of the Sword and managed to withstand them! Mahou Bouquet couldn't continue and ended last on the road of the Beads and must now be escorted out." Masukomi said. "Now, we must get you two to the proper Final Stage!"

Feeling the floor move once again, both sides began to rise up in the air, causing Ravena and Illu to yelp and grab each other again. They all looked up and saw the hole they were ascending to and once they reached the other side found themselves back in the stadium with the crowd cheering for both sides as they were now standing on the stage they started from.

"Hello, all of you FFW fighters out there! I was out of commission, but Plugman is back and now to announce the final game of the Guild Wars Kickoff Event Extravaganza!" The commentator was able to pump up the crowd even more. "So, what better way to finish off the party and start the Guild Wars, than to have a struggling grudge match against our finalist? That's right, it's the part of the party that really gets the blood pumping!"

"Grudge match?" Illu asked.

"It's a special competition, we use the gravity rooms to play FFW here but only one match and with special conditions." Tulio explained. "You'll see, it's better than most ordinary battles in FFW and maybe we'll got a special game."

"Oh how right you are contestant!"

They all saw Masukomi join Plugman on the screen. "Now we choose the game the only way we know how, spinning the Wheel of Fate!" Now on the screen was a large wheel with many challenged written on different colors, Kurotsubasa was able to catch some of the games on the wheel.

"No item battle, dogfight only, freefall fighting, field demolition, what kind of games is these?" DB said in surprised; only seeing some of the options.

"The Wheel of Fate is turning!" The announcers called as the wheel started to spin and gain speed. After holding all the crowd's anticipation the wheel then stopped showing the result of the game. The moment the wheel lost momentum and stopped revealed the conditions for the final battle.

"There you have it folks, in a rare treat for us but the Wheel of Fate has chosen the final game! It's the Party Soul Challenge!" Masukomi made the announcement.

"It's a simple rule that makes for a lot of fun and excitement! Each guild picks a fighter, but here is the challenge…they won't be able to use their own powers, Original or Fictional!" Plugman announced surprising Kurotsubasa.

"That's right you heard me! Instead, the one chosen receives one Original Power transferred randomly from one of their own team-mates and they battle it out! So who is going to fight for each side?"

Kurotsubasa quickly turned and huddled as they began to decide.

"So who's going out?" asked Illu as she looked about her team.

"I'll do it!" offered Bella eagerly but DB shook his head.

"No offense Bells, you may have experience using different powers, but you might have trouble using one of ours," he explained making Bella pout disappointedly.

"I believe it would be appropriate if our dear Leader decided," suggested Ravena as she adjusted her glasses as everyone shifted their gaze to Shawn, who sighed heavily.

"Well Shads? Who's it gonna be?" asked Key.

Shawn looked at the faces of his Guild-mates for a moment before making his decision. "I'll do it," he finally.

The others exchanged glances before nodding in approval as they broke from the huddle. Kurotsubasa then looked over to the All-Stars to see that they have also made their decision.

"Time's up! Will the representatives please make their way to the center of the stage?" announced Masukomi.

"Wish me luck guys," said Shawn taking out his Visor as the rest of his team smiled reassuringly.

"Go get'em, Boss!" cheered Belle while Key gave Shawn a scout salute as he took his bag from him.

"Go crazy, Shads," said DB grinning.

"Gambatte, Shadow-kun~!" encouraged Illu while Ravena folded her arms and gave a small nod as Shawn made his way to his spot.

He wasn't very surprised when he saw that the All-Stars representative was none other than their own Guild Leader, Tulio Pedrosa.

"It looks like it's going to be a Battle of the Guild Leaders in this match, Plugman!" exclaimed Masukomi excitedly.

"You said it, Komi-chan~! Players, to the Gravity Room!" announced Plugman causing two trap doors to open underneath the boys, causing them to suddenly fall through onto a slide that led into a large Gravity room.

"Seriously, what is it with this place and Trap doors?" asked DB incredulously only to receive shrugs from the others as a live video feed appeared, showing Shawn and Tulio come tumbling out of separate tunnels.

FFW

"They really couldn't have softened that landing?" Shawn said after the surprise trip through the trap door. He stood up and brushed off the imaginary dust on his clothes when he saw he was in a large room with three large cylinders with open doors. Observing them a bit, Shawn saw that there were small indents on the sides of the cylinders and that they were big enough to fit a person inside.

"These look almost like…" Shawn then squashed his nostalgia as he went back to the indents. It was a perfect rectangle shape and looked like something could fit inside. Taking a guess he pulled out his new PT and saw that it was the same shape.

"You seem to catch on to things quick, that's a good quality to have."

Shawn then looked at the new voice speaking from the device in his hand. Normally a face would have appeared, much like Masukomi's before. However; whoever was talking didn't appear and he could only hear her voice.

"My apologies, I would formally introduce myself but we do have a schedule to keep. You can guess what you have to do from this point on?" The mysterious woman's voice asked.

"I put this terminal in so that it can read my avatar data and just walk in. I guessed that much but this is my first time using a Gravity Room." Shawn said.

"Fufufufu, well I'll just say that you're in for an experience. However; are you brave enough to take the first step?" She asked him.

Shawn just smirked, even though the person probably couldn't see his expression. "Well after everything this game has put me through I can't just give up here. Besides I have a team that's cheering me on, can't let them down." He placed the terminal in the slot and hears engines hum as he steps inside.

"This is the last game right, might as well let this end in a bang." Shawn said as the doors to the cylinder closes.

The voice lets out a small chuckle, "Well said Shadow, well said. There is a reason I picked you after all." And with that the voiced vanished from the screen.

(FFW)

"We have received word that both combatants have entered the Gravity Room and are right now being scanned. As the two prepare we'll look to the randomizer to choose the appropriate battlefield for these two fighters to face off in!" Masukomi explained to the crowd.

"That's right; we've kept the randomizer going since they were both sent down! So let's see what we have in store for these two brawlers!" Plugman said as a new area filled the screen. It was an open wasteland; there was barren land in all directions. There was nothing to offer cover besides a few dead trees, though what added to the battle was the large storm clouds and lightning that would constantly strike the ground in random spots.

"It seems that the battlefield chosen is the Volt Graveyard. It's an open field that allows for lots of possibilities but because of the lack of cover, stealth is not a factor here!" Masukomi said looking at the field. "Not to mention the beautiful volts of lightning from the sky will add a surprise factor! Who knows when and where they will strike next ?!"

"I don't know about the lightning, but I know that someone's already being transported!"

As Plugman said that everyone's attention was on the screen. The rest of Kurotsubasa and All-Stars stared at the screen wondering which leader was the first to step into the battlefield. A green beam shot from the sky and as it hit a large gust of wind exploded outward as the player stood up.

The man was tall, with amber eyes, tan skin and black hair with yellow jagged highlights. Almost like the lightning circulating through the clouds. He wears a white shirt with trims of blue and a small yellow lightning bolt on top above his heart, along with blue shorts, a belt and soccer shoes. As he stood there were obvious cheers from the crowd who recognized the Guild.

"And Striker has entered the field first; obviously the leader of the All-Stars would be the first to enter. Though usually opponents land at the same time or with some delay…did Kurotsubasa have a problem out of the gate?" Masukomi asked.

(Volt Graveyard)

Striker looked around seeing the desolate area and began scratching the back of his head. "Aww….That was the best entrance I had in a while and no one's here to see it. I even delayed going into the Scanner for about ten seconds just so I know he'd get here." Striker then looked out at the sky.

"Don't tell me he chickened out close to the end. The way people talk about I would thin…hmm?" Striker stopped his musing as another light made its descent down. This one was violet in color.

"What's this, maybe Kurotsubasa is here to answer the call of battle after all! Good thing, I wouldn't want to be the one to chicken out at the best part of the Event!" Plugman said.

As everyone was now silent the beam now struck the ground. Instead of the wind released from Striker's beam, this one released several blades of energy that seem to slash out randomly. Some blades sliced the ground while some narrowly missed Striker as he stood in awe. The ones out in the stands, in the real world, were also shocked and awed by the displayed while Kurotsubasa gave a knowing look to the screen.

The darkness faded to reveal Shadow who was now standing with his arms crossed.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I had to finish a call." Shadow said. "But now, what say we get this match started?" He asked his opponent.

"No problem Shawn~! Glad you made it! Since this is our first meeting in-game, I guess I should tell you I go by the name of Striker in here~" said Striker cheerfully.

"In that case, I go by the name of Shadow," introduced Shadow with a nod when a mass of pink data suddenly began to gather between the two boys which gradually formed into Masukomi and a small white Mokona with a pink Gem floating next to her.

"Hi everybody~! Masukomi here~!"

"Pu-Pu-Pu-PUU~!" cheered the Mokona as well.

"And CAM is here too!" introduced Masukomi as she gestured the boys to come closer. "Alright people, remember since this is the Party Soul Challenge, your own powers have been deactivated and will be temporarily replaced with an Original Power from one of your own team-mates~!"

"That's right, Komi-chan~!" announced Plugman as a screen appeared flashing the grinning face of the DJ. "And to decide we going to use something we like to call…Random Roulette!"

No sooner did he say that, two large picture wheels labeled with the boys' respective guilds appeared floating next to the screen. Each wheel were segmented by color with a chibi picture of each of their guild mates depicted on it.

(Real World)

Back in the real world, two cylindrical podiums appeared before the rest of the All-Stars and Kurotsubasa guild members. The tops of the podiums were designed exactly like the roulette wheels displayed on the screen except instead of pictures, there were rectangular indents.

"Alright All-Stars and Kurotsubasa! Insert your PTs into the roulette wheels if you please!" commanded Plugman.

The two guilds nodded as they all took out their PTs while Kurotsubasa walked up to the podium with five segments. Key, DB, Bella, Illu and Ravena with took their PT's, colored silver, black, green, lavender and red respectively, and placed them into their individual slots while the All-Star group did the same.

Upon doing so, both podiums, lit up brightly as red button appeared next to Plugman on screen. "YOSH! And with that, Random Roulette start!" he yelled pushing the button causing the segments on the wheels to begin lighting up individually in circulation.

Back on the Volt Graveyard, Masukomi, Shadow and Striker all looked intently at the illuminated wheels began to slow down.

BING-BING-BING! BING-BING-BING! Both wheels blinked crazily as they finally came to a stop and rested on their individual team-mates.

"Power Transfer: START~!" commanded Masukomi as the selected PTs in the Real World began blinking as data began to get transferred through the system. Before Shadow and Striker could do anything, a flash of red and white lightning suddenly came down and struck both boys.

"ARGH!" both of them yelled in shock as they got zapped while Masukomi and CAM kept on smiling naturally until the lightning bolts disappeared just as soon as they appeared.

"Power Transfer: COMPLETE~!" cheered Masukomi, clapping her hands excitedly. "Now lets see who they received~! From the All-Stars: AKISAME!"

Striker looked down at his hands in surprise to see them glowing with aura before suddenly bursting into a huge excited smile. "YAY~! AKI-BOO~! I got AKI-CHAN~! AKI-MI~! DO YOU SEE THIS AKI-TAN~?! OUR LOVE HAS TRANSFERRED YOUR POWER TO ME~!" he said excitedly.

(Real World)

A few people giggled in amusement as loud smack could be heard coming from the direction of the All-Stars. Kurotsubasa all turned their heads to see a Japanese boy with pretty features face-plant himself into his hands with a loud audible groan.

"URUSAI ! NANI GA SUKI-DESUKA?! KONO YARO! KUSO BAKARO!" screamed the boy in obvious annoyance and embarrassment at the screen with a bright red face.

Bella, DB and Key turned their heads to Ravena who was suppressing an amused smirk while Illu smiled a bit sheepishly.

"What? What did he say?!" asked Bella eagerly while Illu waved her off.

"Something not very polite…." said Illu sheepishly while Ravena simply walked up to Bella and whispered the translation in her ear.

Bella's expression went from confused to shock and then amusement as she too began to start laughing. Ravena then whispered the translation to the boys who also gave mixed reactions of amusement while Illu sighed when she looked back to the screen that had shifted to Shadow and suddenly blushed when she saw that Shadow's appearance had changed due to the Power Transfer.

Quickly, she tapped her other members who all looked at the screen suddenly with wide eyes at Shadow. Ravena in particular blushed the brightest and clasped her hands together with a huge smile and sparkling eyes. "NYA~ NEKO-BOY~!" she exclaimed excitedly.

(Volt Graveyard)

"Well, I honestly did not see this coming…." Muttered Shadow as he turned his head to see a sleek pair of black cat-tails swishing about behind him before putting his hands to his head to feel the new pair of black cat ears that had replaced his human ones.

"Kurotsubasa Power Transfer: RAVENA FELIDAE~!" announced Masukomi cheerfully.

"Pu-PUU~Pu-PUU~~~!" cheered CAM as it circled around Masukomi happily.

"Great, I can already see the pictures going up online today." Shadow sighed, the newly formed cat ears also flopped down as well emulating his emotions. Inwardly he shivered as if feeling some of the more…extreme thoughts of the audience.

"Oh calm down; all of this is good fun who cares about appearances. It's all about the action." Striker said as he stretched a bit.

'Of course you can say that, most of your team probably doesn't have weird features they can pass on to you. I can only pray I'm still sane when I get to Bella's.' Shadow sighed as he looked himself over. Not only were his powers removed but so were his weapons and items (which probably explained why Amaya wasn't there); his right arm was even normal as he no longer had the Blazblue but he saw that he now had sharpened claws.

'Come to think of it, my sight has become a lot sharper but I don't have the Byakugan anymore.' Shadow was then pulled out of his thoughts as Masukomi began speaking.

"You have all received your first power, as you know the rule is you get a random Original Power from your team and the power changes every ten minutes! The goal is to defeat you opponents while trying to discover what gifts your teammates have given you!" Masukomi explained as she then allowed CAM to fly up higher to catch a better view for the audience.

"CAM will be keeping a close eye on all the action so no cheating; weapons and items have all been removed so this is now a physical slugfest for victory! I'll be your field host and commentator while Plugman watches from his seat to keep the crowd going!" Masukomi said as she then floated to the sky for safety.

"Here that, the match is decided by all around skill and creativity! There won't be any weapons allowed unless they can be made by the powers you received, but I'm sick of this talking…let's get down to the blood-fest!"

Hearing Plugman already both Shadow and Striker tightened themselves into different stances. Seeing them both ready Masukomi decided to start the match. "Are you both ready?!" Seeing the focused and determined looks on their face, Masukomi smiled as she signaled the match.

"Start!"

The battle started immediately with Shadow soon vanishing from sight. Striker seemed to smirk as he crossed his armed in order to block a kick that was aimed at his chest. "That's funny, I figured you were the type to take their time and think things over before making the first move?" He said amused as he backed up to create distance.

"Not much time to plan when I hardly know what I can do." Shadow admitted. That was untrue; since he hoped that earning the first blow would stun Striker long enough for him to figure out what else Ravena's powers could do. 'I'm going to have to improvise since there is a lack of cover.'

"Ahaha, I agree with you there!" Striker smiled as he seemed to relax himself to Shadow's confusion. "'Though I have to say, considering the power I got you must have horrible luck." He said.

"And why do you say that?" Shadow asked, wondering if that statement was out of confidence or arrogance.

Striker then smirked, "It's because…out of everyone in my guild I happen to be closest to Aki, so I know exactly how to use his power." Raising his hands, they were soon filled with a bright light. Faster than anyone could, a ball of energy quickly shot across the field.

Shadow didn't know if it was his new senses or maybe insanity, but he quickly bended backwards and completely avoided that blast as it over him (almost grazing his chest) and created a new crate nearby. The new black cat soon righted himself as he looked at where the blast landed.

'Ok, I always wanted to do that…but how did I do that?' He thought to himself. Feeling his body warn him of danger again he then moved to the side to avoid a punch from Striker.

"Hey where are you looking?! I know you might still be shocked at your performance but don't forget this is still a battle!" Striker called as his leg went flying towards his target.

Shadow raised his shoulder to block but was sent flying as the kick literally slammed into him. Guarding or not, he still felt pain as he left trails in the ground as he tried to maintain his footing.

"Well would you look at that, Shadow may have surprised us with a trademark Matrix move; however, he still seems to not be able to use that power effectively. Meanwhile, Striker seems to know all about the power he has and not to mention we got to see his legendary leg strength in action!" Masukomi commented on the two fighters actions.

"That's right, the little kitty thought he was a lion by trying to block that attack but it just shows why they call Striker the Devil's Foot. It wouldn't be surprising if every bone in that arm was dust right now!" Plugman said.

"You think Shadow-kun is all right?" Illu asked, visible worried after seeing the events just play out on the monitor.

"Come on, Shadow is stronger than that and it takes more than a kick to keep him down." DB tried to reassure her. "Just give him some time to adjust to the powers; I'm sure he have this fight turned around!"

"Still what is that power, ki? Was he able to strengthen his kick just now?" Key asked.

"Nope that was all Tulio, or Striker I should say." All of Kurotsubasa turned to the speaker from the All-Stars. "My power is only energy manipulation, I can control the raw energy my body generates, though that power can't strength attacks. That powerful kick was Striker." Aiko said. "Though I'll give your leader props for still standing, not many can stand up to the Devil's Foot."

"The fight isn't over yet." Ravena said pushing up her glasses as they all looked back to the screen.

"Indeed it isn't, though do hope that he can survive at least for ten minutes." Aiko said.

(Volt Graveyard)

"Oi, you ok? It would be bad if I killed you in the first few minutes of the game; sure you can keep going? I'm sure I must have left that arm in pieces." Striker called out jokingly seeing Shadow had braved the impact of his kick.

Shadow seemed to be rubbing his wounded shoulder, though that seemed to be all. 'That kick felt like getting hit by a truck. By all means, my arm should be in pieces.' Shadow then tested his arm and extended it. Though the arm was slightly bruised it was still intact and unbroken.

"Actually that barely hurt at all." Shadow tested his arm again before getting back on his feet. "Sorry, but I've taken harder hits than that, you're going to have to try something different." He said.

Striker let out a quick laugh as he began to gather energy again. "Of course; however…" The Leader of the All-Stars then poured all the energy into his hands and shaped it into a medium sized ball. "While I enjoy CQC like anyone else, I rather stick to what I do best."

'I don't need these neko senses to know what he's planning.' Shadow thought as he remained on his guard. "You're the Devil's Foot right, then let's see what you got." He called out with his fingers using the 'Bring it on' motion.

"Ahaha, all right then…" Stirker allowed the ball to fall from his hands, though instead of exploding it hovered still above the ground. "Let's my show you my game then!" Rearing back his legs he then kicked the ball of light forward shooting out at high seed as it shredded the ground around it.

Shadow quickly jumped into the air avoiding ball as it exploded upon a nearby rock. Striker didn't stop there as he created three more deadly soccer balls that aimed at the airborne player. "Bad choice of strategy, can't really dodge in the air can you?" Striker asked as the ball went flying towards their target.

Shadow was able to bend and move himself out of the way, dodging two energy balls. Once the last one aimed dead center at him, he suddenly was able to move himself out of the way. Standing, or floating, confused Shadow then realized that he was flying. It was that reasoning that cause Shadow to berate himself.

"Man I'm such an idiot, can't believe I forgot that Rave isn't just an ordinary cat girl." Shadow then looked back at the two tails that flickered behind him. 'She's a Nekomata, that means…'

Suddenly Striker saw the air light up briefly, shielding his eyes from the light he just barely dodged a ball of fire. Seeing the smoke from where the attack hit he then looked up to see Shadow surrounded by what looked like a cloak of fire. Two large tails of fire extended behind him as they appeared to be charging something.

"Now it's my turn." The balls resting on the tips of the tails soon grew wide and began forming large spectral cats covered in flames. Shadow then launched the cats down towards their earthbound enemy.

Striker created a wall of energy that blocked the first cat but then quickly had to roll out of the way to avoid the second cat that flanked him. He put up another shield in front of him as the cats detonated into a large ring of fire around him. As he stood motionless he couldn't dodge a claw swipe from Shadow who dashed through the flames quickly and out again.

"Way to turn the tide, not only was he finally able to gain quick control but he was able to turn around a losing match into a slaughter-fest with that power he has. Can Shadow pull a lead out before the next power swap?" Plugman asked the crowd.

"Ravena-chan, I didn't think your power could really be used that way." Illu said seeing the speed trap in effect.

"Well it's not how I would usually use it, but since Shads doesn't have my magic that's his way of compromising. Not to mention Shadow and I have different fighting styles." Ravena said as she looked like she was quickly sketching something while taking time to watch the screen.

"If that's how Shads is now I can't wait until he gets my power." DB said wondering what else Shadow had in mind when using fire. "Still, didn't know your Nekomata powers could be that scary Rave."

"Must be hidden by your magic and cuteness Kitty." Bella joked as she then noticed the clock. "Whoa, is it really almost ten minutes already?" She asked seeing the countdown under the monitor slowly reach zero.

"He'll have to change powers soon." Key agreed seeing as they both only had a minute left.

"Ce que l'enfer? !What kind of power is that?! Surely there is something in the rules about it; I thought he could only use Un original power!" One of the girls from the All-Stars raved seeing the battle go on.

"The power being used is called Nekomata and it fits the requirements of the match as it is an original power. We don't know what the powers do, just the players from which they come from know that answer." Masukomi answered from the screen.

"Still compared to just Energy Manipulation Striker has his work cut out for him." Aiko said as he pointed to the screen. Where Shadow's claw's met there were tears in Striker's close but not blood was show, just small scars. "He's using the energy to reinforce his body; Striker just has to last until the ten minutes end.

"Then Striker will do just that, all he needs to do is stand and hold him off until the powers change." The other male of All-Stars said. "Though there is one thing that I don't get, no items can be used or be summoned in the battle, so why is that thing still on Shadow's wrist?"

"Like,What do you mean Jesse?" The other girl then looked and saw that despite the battle rules the gold bracelet was still present on Shadow's wrist. "Isn't that the Wings of Creation everyone is, like, talking about or some junk?"

"Then doesn't that mean he can just cheat, maybe that's how he got to use those powers! Ce tricheur !" The girl who was calling out before called again.

"Hey, Shads doesn't even use the Wings that much and he doesn't need it to win a battle like this!" Bella yelled back.

"Shadow would never cheat!" Key added.

"Then how do you explain the bracelet then, how do we know he didn't use it?" Just as that question was asked the same questions began to go through the crowd. Before anything can form out the dome's lights darkened a bit as someone spoke from the rafters.

"I am one of the people monitoring the system…as well as one of the creators of FFW. Our equipment would tell us if any item was being used and so far none have been used. The battle is being done with just their strength, power, and will." The voice answered.

Before anyone could question who the voice was, an alarm went off showing the first ten minutes had ended. On the screen, all the flames were gone as Shadow and Striker were standing a distance away from one another.

"Hai~Hai~! Ten Minutes are up and that means….Random Roulette Start~!" cheered Masukomi as the wheels began spinning.

BING! BING!

This time silver and pink lightning came shooting down and struck Shadow and Striker. Shadow coughed a bit as he waved dust away and quickly felt his head to feel it was normal again. He looked behind to also see his tails were gone as well. "Hmm, I kinda almost miss them."

"Power Transfer: Keybladedude!"

"Oh Come on! Seriously?!" he heard Striker cry out in disappointment and disbelief.

Shadow looked towards his opponent and almost choked on his spit to find that Striker had brown Bunny Ears sticking up from his hair. Striker groaned as he turned to see a cotton tail twitching as it stuck out his shorts.

"Power Transfer: Prima-Diva!"

(Real World)

"VOUS JACKASS! You should be in CELEBRATION at the Occasion to use MES POUVOIRS ! VOUS IMBECILE! "screamed a blond-haired girl from the All-Stars making the rest of her team shake their heads.

(Volt Graveyard)

"Oh calm down; all of this is good fun who cares about appearances. It's all about the action," said Shadow smirking as he repeated what Striker said to him earlier.

' So it looks like I got Key this time. If I recall correctly is ESP. Sure hope it helps!' Shadow then tightened his guard; he knew Key's ability was not offensive so he was limited to what he could so in CQC, a bad strategy considering Striker's leg strength.

All right, stay focus and think, I'm limited on moves and Key's ability heightens my perception. From the looks of Striker, him being a rabbit makes things worse with his legs. I'll just have to keep on my toes…and hopefully take him out.' Shadow strategized as he stayed and observed Striker.

"What you're not going to charge in this time? All right then, I guess it's my turn to get the game started! " Striker then seemed to vanish in a large burst of speed.

Shadow's eye's widened though he did duck to avoid an overhead kick from the now rabbit Stirker. As Striker continued with a flash of kicks Shadow was able avoid each one. He then backed away as Striker held up an axe kick that created a large dent in the ground where he once stood.

Looks like things have escalated to just close combat. Despite the looks, Striker's new abilities seemed to have increased the destructive power of his already Deadly Devil's Feet. However it looks like Shadow's return to normalcy didn't come without perks, it's like he able to tell where the kicks are coming from despite Striker's new amazing speed!

"Key, is that how its usually like when you use your perception? " Illu asked. She and Ravena were the only ones to have not seen Key use this power and from what she remembers it was how the Beta had located the Red Savage's base so easily.

"Something like that, my ESP works like a radar I can quickly detect any person within a kilometer around me even if they are trying to mask their signature." Key explained. "Shads had always good perception of his own and even better reflexes, I say he's just using ESP as a six sense to counter Striker's speed. "

"He's going to need the edge; I mean a regular kick from the guy sent him miles in the other direction. No telling what this rabbit hybrid of his can do." DB said.

"Hey, I'm sure Shads knows enough about bunnies to take care of this problem." Bella said confidently.

"Somehow I don't think raising Amaya is a way to prepare him for this." Ravena said pushing up her glasses again.

(Volt Graveyard)

"Can't you just stand still for five seconds?!" Striker said agitated as his feet only managed to strike empty air.

"And get my ass kicked? I don't think so! It looks like you're enjoying the power you have now." Shadow said as he narrowly dodged another sweep kick.

"Because I want to get out of this form as fast as possible!" Striker said back, showing his anger in full. "If I can't do this the easy way, then I guess we're going to have to go the hard way!"

"Oh then by all means, show how good that power is?" Shadow said.

"I will, try and dodge this; maybe you can say you dodged a Prima-Diva original!" Striker said as he built up power in his legs, so much that Shadow saw them glow a dim color. "Try this on for size…Bunny 1000 Kick!"

Soon multiple kicks came in a flurry in Shadow's direction. While the ESP helped him see through the afterimages the kicks left behind he still had trouble with the speed that Striker's legs were going. More than once, he had been grazed by the lightning fast legs, briefly sensing the power behind each one.

'Guess it's time to play offensive.' Shadow said as he then vanished out the way of Striker's kick. The All-Star stopped his flurry seeing Shadow suddenly vanished, though he soon felt a rush of air as Shadow was now behind him.

"You're not the only one who's fast and that last move left you wide!" Shadow called out. Striker quickly turned around for a punch only for Shadow to feint it as he gotten up close and delivered a palm strike to Striker's chest that pushed the man back. Before Striker could right himself he was now dealing with several fast jabs as Shadow continued his attack.

"And the tables have finally turned; Shadow, who has been on the defensive since the beginning has now trapped Striker. Seeing how it looks like Striker can hardly move means that Shadow doesn't need a fancy eye to know where to hit." Plugman said.

"I can second that, it looks as though he's striking several of Striker's pressure points before delivering several quick and fast hits. Lather, rinse, and repeat and he's got Striker trapped in an inescapable combo!" Masukomi added on.

"That can't be my speed, I'm not that fast." Key said.

"Um, what Shadow said before was true; remember we each had to tell each other our stats as soon as we join. I found that I was faster thanks to my hybrid status, though Shadow is fast after me." Illu said.

"Oh yeah, I remember those test. Though I hardly see Shads using anything other than gravity or his Shadow Step for speed, I really need to double check our stats." Bella said as she then looked to the other team. "How's that Fancy-Words, think Shads is still cheating now?!"

The blonde girl seemed ready to shout something but then regained her composure. "While the words from that Director were surprising, I still have no soucis. This is just a minor setback; we just need to watch as Striker turns this around with my puissance."

"That's if Striker can get comfortable using them Emeline-sugar, like from all we've seen Striker only knows how to use them for kickin'." Another member of All-Stars said.

"Valerie mon Cherie, we can say that from just about all of our powers when Striker gets them. But at least with mine it takes Striker's best talent as uses them as an even stronger weapon. The imbecile just needs to use his head." Emeline said with a toss of her hair.

"There is still time left, don't underestimate Striker." Aiko said as they all just saw lightning strike dead center of the two fighters. "Or the stage for that matter, from all that's happened I forgot about the lightning."

"Well well, looks like we just got some intervention. Will that be enough for Striker to come back from the losing battle?"

(Volt Graveyard)

"I wonder how random that last bolt was, I wonder how long we've been going at each other. We must have at least hit five minutes by now." Shadow said as he looked back to the hole the lightning left as dust clouded his vision. "Better stay here for a minute; I'm sure Striker isn't going…"

Just as he said that he saw something shoot out from the dust and into the sky. He covered his eyes from the dust blown his way and when his vision was clear he could see how high Striker jumped and what looked like pink energy swirling around him.

"You got to be kidding me." Shadow said seeing Striker in the middle of a ball of energy. Soon Striker then made his descent falling like a meteor towards the land bound player.

"I still have one more trick, let's seen if you're fast enough to avoid this!" Shadow could hear Stirker's voice as he fell.

"BUNNY METEOR!"

Shadow turned to quickly run to try and avoid being caught in the attack. His retreat was then block by an inconvenient volt that struck right in front of him pulling him to a stop. He turned around to see the attack quickly gaining speed, Shadow then dove to the right to avoid a direct hit but was caught in the shockwave the attack produced.

"Wow, just look at the sparks that flew just now. That ill-timed lightning seemed to cut off Shadow's escape and he was then caught up in the blast the Meteor produced upon impact! From our status both players are still in the game, let's take a look at their health." Masukomi said as CAM then pulled up both players' readings.

Next to a portrait of each player was a green lifebar. The one next to Striker's showed a small chunk missing, but on Shadow's end it was done to nearly half gone. "Well we can certainly tell now who received a beating ladies and gentlemen, if the battle keeps going on this way Shadow will reach zero long before Striker does.

"How PARFAIT~! I knew my power would be the one to turn this around! Not even your brave leader can withstand the impact of the Bunny Meteor; even fate was not on his side. He was just lucky not to be hit directly." Emeline boasted on.

"You keep saying that but the battle is still happening!" Bella said just as they all heard an alarm ring signaling the end of ten minutes.

"Time to change already, we haven't even had a chance for the smoke to clear. Oh well, rules are rules… Random Roulette Start!" Masukomi announced as the wheels began to spin towards the next power each fighter would receive.

Back on the ground Striker jumped out of the dust cloud and back seen the impact zone his attack caused. "I have to give it to Prima, that attack sure was fun. Mine wasn't as graceful but it got the job done." Striker said as he dusted himself off. The dust clouds still lingered on as he saw no sign of Shadow. "Guess that must have been a little much, but there ain't no kill like overkill!"

After that he was then hit by red lightning and saw the extra appendages disappear as he saw a green volt of lightning strike something within the dust. Striker then stretched and popped a few joints as he slowly walked towards where he saw the lightning hit.

"Power Transfer: Pitch!"

"If you're trying to hide it won't work now, the shuffle already gave away your location. Come on; if you're in that much pain give up. This isn't like playing with a visor back home, some physical pain is gonna transfer over." Striker said as he closed the gap, he could already see a silhouette. "You lasted about 20 minutes, that's an accomplishment for your first run, but let's say we bring an end to this"

Striker then reared back a punch only for it to be caught by a large red hand. He stood surprised but then raised another one only for another hand to grab it. What surprised him next was two more arms appearing out the dust as four yellow eyes stared back. Striker was then sent flying back as a large alien emerged from the dust cover.

"No kill like overkill right?" Four-Arms asked and then in a flash changed back into Shadow. His clothes had some tear from the explosion but he was still intact. "So that's what it feels like to be Bella." Shadow said as he dusted himself off.

"Power Transfer: GeneralHyna!"

"Well this is a surprising turn." Ravena smirked as she looked at the screen putting up a hand for Bella to High five enthusiastically.

"Power of the Toons, go and give him one for Shads!" Bella cheered on giving as the All-Stars were silent at the display.

"Now that's the luck of the draw; Shadow ended up with what would be one of the more unique powers I've ever seen. That punch alone just evened up the score between hit points, due to how overkill the power is the rules have restrained them to only one series each used and Shadow just used up a very helpful series." Plugman said.

"What?! Boo-Boo, I say!" Bella yelled at the screen.

"Boo yourself, those are the rules along with each transformation gets only one attack!" Plugman added.

"That's discrimination; I'll see to it that my men and I riot!" Bella said as Key and DB held the girl back.

"Calm down Bella, those rules are just so that the battle is far." DB tried to reason with her.

"Can't expect everyone to be able to deal with your power; everyone has to have a fighting chance!" Key said.

(Volt Graveyard)

"That's one way to make this fight far; otherwise really with Bella's power I can end this fight fast enough with just a few thoughts." Shadow shrugged. "This way it will be easier for you, I felt that super strength you had but you're going to need more. So how about this, I'll give you a challenge."

"Challenge?" Striker asked back.

"We got about eight minutes left, what's say I use only five forms. If you can survive all of those, then whatever time is left I'll just not use the power anymore." Shadow proposed.

"And how will I know you won't just bring out something that can end the fight in a second" Striker asked.

"Now where's the fun in that, it's not a challenge if everything is stacked completely against you." Shadow smirked. "I'll keep them moderately tame; though surviving will all depend on you." He added.

"Well I was never one to not accept a challenge, you're on." Striker said, confident in his abilities.

"That's good…because you're going off against my childhood, and I'll warn you this now. I've seen some weird things as a kid." Shadow said. "Let's hope T.V. doesn't kill ya' too quickly."

In another flash Shadow was replaced with a small bald headed monk. Before Striker could even laugh or question it, the monk then pulled out a small blue orb and held it high above his head.

"Orb of Tornami!"

Already Striker's eyes widened, as he now had to deal with a large tidal wave that swept up most of the ground. He had no place to go as he was quickly swept along the current created by the Pint-sized Monk.

"Ha! It looks like you have mistakenly made an assumption about a piece of literature by its front and not reading what is written inside!" said Omi haughtily before Shadow quickly covered his mouth in surprise and regained his composure. "Woah…that was weird…"

(Real World)

"I'm guessing…..Judge a book by its cover?" asked Illu looking at Bella who nodded.

(Volt Graveyard)

"Pfft! If your gonna gloat as least get your sayings right!" yelled Striker irritably after spitting out a mouthful of water when suddenly he saw a flash and felt a powerful strike on his chest.

"Soul FORCE!"

Striker let out a huge yell of pain as jolts of soul wavelength coursed its way through his body as he got blasted away and through a row of gravestones causing a huge dust cloud to up in the air once more.

"Hmph, that outta do some damage," said Dr. Franken Stein, the Mad Meister as he began twisting the screw on his head out of habit. While he was off in his own world of experimentation, Striker then burst from the rubble and began to move forward towards the stitched man.

"No way something like that is going to stop me!" Striker then struck where Stein was standing, easily cracking the ground with one punch.

As he just saw himself standing above a hole Striker looked around to see where his new changeling opponent had vanished too. Placing all of his attention to looking around he never noticed the extra blue weight on his back. Suddenly feeling the paws on his back he began to feel around barely even able to grab onto it until finally grabbing it and holding it to his face only to freeze.

Hanging upside in his hands was the small alien Stitch that met his gaze right back at him. The alien experiment blinked for a bit before waving his free hand to his opponent. "Really Shadow, you're going to have to do better than a small blue Disney Character to take me on." Striker planned another attack only for two more arms to sprout out of Stich's sides and catch the punch, Striker was suddenly pulled off his feet by the alien's superior strength.

"I'm not just small; I'm also cute and FLUFFY!" Stitch then spins him around on one hand before throwing Striker off against the ground. In a flash Stitch was gone and replaced with Shadow. "Maybe you should remember those old Disney Movies." He taunted back.

"Right, I get it, I'll stop holding back…" Striker got on his feet but then dug his hands into the ground.

Confusing Shadow for a bit, he stood there wondering why Striker didn't stand yet only to feel the ground crumble and shake underneath him. Trying to gain some footing Shadow looked and saw Striker was pulling a large chunk of the ground out using his newly acquired super strength.

"Let's see what you have in your arsenal that can stop this?!" Striker yelled holding a massive piece of the ground in both hands before chucking it towards Shadow.

At the speed and size of the attack Shadow could only stare at the large mass of Earth that seemed to have crushed him in an instance before it shattered on impact. Dust rose and Striker couldn't see if the attack was affective, the fight didn't immediately end so he knew Shadow was still there some way.

"That was interesting, trying to close off anyway that I could to actually dodge. However; you were mistaken to think I could have just ran out of the way."

Striker then turned around to see he was now facing a gun barrel that was in the hands of a red and black hedgehog. Shadow the Hedgehog sighed before backing up away and changing back to Shadow. "Got to try harder than to just throw rocks at me."

"That's a real game breaking power, anyone ever tell your friend that?" Striker joked as he got back on guard.

"Ain't no one try to take it out the system yet so there are probably powers that are more game breaking. Besides if I really went out of control like Bella does I could literally turn this entire patch of land we're standing on to ruin." Shadow said.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want you nuking the battlefield," Striker chuckled as they both soon got the alert that they both would only have one minute left until they would have to switch powers again. "We're heading to the final stretch; I only have one more member of my Guild so this would be the last round. I rather not have roulette and risk you getting this power again."

"Well until then, I still have one more form to try out don't I?" Shadow smirked as he got prepared. "I didn't think you would try a move like that, so I thought I had more time for this."

"Then, you better make this form your best one or will you let the time run out?" Striker asked.

"No, I don't think I will do that." Shadow then raised a hand and shaped his fingers like that of a gun. Striker thought this was a trick until Shadow's form changed and the tip of his index finger then glowed with a blue light as spiritual energy gathered to the appendage. "It's been a while since I've seen this show so let's see if I can make this shot count." The light then grew in size and intensified.

"Spirit Gun!"

A large sphere of energy shot forward and Striker only hand an instant to cross his arms to offer some sort of guard as he was hit with the blunt force of the Spirit Gun. The blast detonated and sent him sliding back though the only form of damage he had taken was the smoking and char on his arms.

"Ouch man, that seriously hurt! I don't know if I preferred that or having to take on a Kamehameha!" Striker said as he waved his arms to get some sense of relief after blocking the attack.

"Seriously, that didn't kill you?! Dammit, I need to see that Old Hag for more training!" Yusuke then vanished as Shadow stood there as they both heard the time end.

"Wow, these two are almost easily matched, if it weren't for the special rules these two would seriously give each other a workout. I can't wait to see if these two Guilds ever face of in FFW officially!" Masukomi announced. "However we are to the final random roulette and both fighters are down to a third of their original health!"

"That's right, and both fighters seemed to have made it clear that they want to end this bout with the next and possibly the final roulette. Let's give these boys what they want and see if they have any regrets." Plugman said as he started up the wheel.

"Random Roulette Start~!"

At the call, two final volts of black and purple lightning rained from the sky and struck the two as their powers were now chosen an arranged. They were about to charge at the other only for a large volt of lightning to strike between them causing them to back up; overhead they could hear the multiple booms as the storm began to intensify.

"Ooh, looks like even the stage wants to give them an extra challenge everyone! The storm seems to have increased in intensity as more lightning seem to come striking down, how will this play out for these two?" Masukomi asked as the two fighters righted themselves.

'Val's powers aren't good much physically, but now I can start playing this game my way.' Striker thought as he seemed to reach behind him. Out of nowhere he pulled out and let three soccer balls land on the ground. Rearing up his legs, Striker sent three swift kicks that sliced through the ground and the air towards Shadow, almost like missiles.

Shadow then backed up and then a flash of light filled their eyes as another lightning bolt dropped down close to their location. Taking advantage of the light, Shadow seemed to have vanished as the Soccer balls seemed to continue advancing off into the distance. Making it behind Striker, Shadow reared back a palm to try and strike a pressure point only for Striker to turn quickly and stop him with a quick turn and sweep of his legs causing Shadow to have to dodge back.

Striker seemed to have gotten into a rhythm as now he seemed to be dancing in place to a song only he could hear, but with the look he was sending Shadow he knew there was something more. Seeing that Striker was no longer going to start, Shadow rushed in to resume the battle. The scythe-user's fists were flying as he made jabs almost at the speed of sound to try and strike several points; though Striker's movement and sweeps made it almost impossible and more than often Shadow had to stop and block a sudden strike from Striker's elbow. The battle became that of skill and evasion to see who could land a solid blow on the other.

"Looks like Striker's actually forced to have to fight somewhat seriously, he's focusing back to his instincts of dodging rather than trying to block the attack." Aiko said. "Though even with this change Shadow still isn't a slouch; however he seems more prone to actually endure a hit if it means gaining an advantage."

"Why would someone actually try to get hit? I think he would remember how hard Striker's kicks are." Jesse asked.

"Just take a look," Aiko pointed out the scene taking place. Striker was able to remove Shadow's footing with a successful strike to the legs, though instead of falling Shadow just planted himself on his palms and was able to strike a close range kick to Striker's jaw before flipping himself back to his feet.

"I've heard this Guild's methods of fighting are unusual, but it does take more than just raw luck to win something like the Eclipse Tournament." Aiko said.

"Well either way, at the rate things are going Striker's going to be the one left standing. The only way for Shadow to land damage is to get damaged himself, truly poor strategy." Emeline said.

"If Shadow does something then it's for a reason," All eyes were on Ravena now, though hers were still planted on the screen where the battle still took place. "This is the final stretch and he has no intention of losing, the battle just started."

"And it's going to end with your friend's defeat; in Capoeira no one can beat Striker!" Emeline shot back. "Not to mention his distance is cut off, thanks to Val's power and Striker's Devils Feet. Your Guild lost, but at least he put up a good show."

"Well you better hang on to those fancy britches cuz the show ain't over yet!" Bella shouted back to the girl.

"I feel bad, if he has my power I don't think he can use it without having help like I do with Muku-Chan." Illu said sadly.

"Hey don't talk like that Illu; we don't know what power Shads has." DB said.

"It all comes down to chance, but what we need to do now is just good Shadow our support." Key chimed in.

"H-hai" Illu nodded as she turned back to the battle.

(Volt Graveyard)

Another clash and Shadow found himself moving back as he got some distance away from Striker. He was panting now after both attacking and dodging Striker's wild movements, Shadow decided to make a small retreat and catch breath. However; Striker didn't look as winded as he had just brought out more Soccer balls to shoot at his target. At this time lightning was constantly striking now leaving few spots safe for either fighter.

"This has actually been one of the best fights I've had in a long time; you're really good even without your powers." Striker said with a smile.

"Well I'd be lying if I said this fight wasn't enjoyable but the fun has to end some time." Shadow said.

"I agree, so I'll do you a favor and make your exit a bit flashy." At that moment Striker was juggling the balls with one foot, he then sent them all up to the air, as each of them were suddenly struck by lightning, surprising the audience. Instead of being vaporized; Striker now had three glowing balls with lightning arcing off of them.

"My friend Val's power is Hammerspace, she can pull out anything she wants. I decided to improvise since I couldn't use my original powers." Striker explained. "This won't be the same, but using metallic cores inside these soccer balls should be close to it…"

"Thunder Bullets!" Striker then kicked them forward, each one now resembling lightning orbs that streaked their way through the air.

Shadow made a gesture as if to dodge but he then noticed how much lightning was coming down around him. 'Dammit, the metal and the ground must be attracting more, no room to run.' He gritted his teeth as he glared at the orbs of light flying towards him and the arcs of lighting coming down towards him. A huge explosion knocked Masukomi out the air before she could see and shook the audience's scenes as they all stood to see the final outcome.

"What the hell, Masukomi is it over?" Plugman demanded as the screen righted himself; however instead of a victory screen all everyone in the crowd could see was an orange and crimson light. "What the blazes is that?!"

"Ah hells yeah, give him a taste of what that power can do Shads!" DB cheered on, surprising the rest of the All-Stars and the audience as they all can now make out a swirling dome of fire.

"Wait wait, are you serious? Did Shadow just block all of that lightning by using FIRE?!"

(Volt Graveyard)

"No way, that's impossible no matter what that power is." Striker said as he felt the heat from his side. The fire kept burning but parted down the middle to show Shadow's form with flames licking off his clothing.

"I cut it a little close there, but I was able to make the fire solid enough for a barricade. It also helped to get rid of your attack." The flames vanished and Striker could see the remains of his soccer balls. Of course they were charred, but what was peculiar was that they were all sliced in half.

(Play Persona 2 Innocent Sin ost – Boss Theme)

"I'll let you in on why my entrance was like that before." Shadow began talking. "My Element is Darkness, and another way to use it is to form weapons that can be stronger than physical ones. Fire isn't Darkness but…" Shadow then held out his hands and flames sprouted out before extending and shaping into two swords in his hands. "I can improvise."

Shadow then kicked off in a burst of speed with his blades in hand as he rushed towards Striker. The Leader of the All-Stars then shook himself out of his shock and sent more lightning charged bolts towards Shadow. To his surprise, Shadow only kept a straight pace as he used his new swords to deflect the path or slice the balls to pieces.

'I thought he was a scythe-user, how's he so good with a sword?' Striker then dodged the thrust thanks to a quick Ginga on his part; he decided not to play any chances and pulled out an advance Capioera move. Dropping down he supported himself on his hands and produced a fast spin kick with both legs.

"Meia Lua de Compasso Dupla!" Striker announced as he began his spin only for his legs to pass through Shadow as if he was air. His eyes widened at the result as he looked up as Shadow was now spinning horizontally midair with his swords ready as he stopped his spin.

'An illusion, no wait that heat…a mirage!'

"I don't have a name for this move yet, but thanks for helping me test it out!" Shadow called as the flames grew on his swords. "This is the end!" He yelled as he used both swords to slash downwards through Striker ending the battle as the entire field burst into flames. Striker felt nothing as he was cut in two before he was engulfed in the flames, turning into data as his health hit zero.

Masukomi was taking cover behind a nearby rock, hiding until she felt the rumble of the earth end until CAM pulled her attention. The reporter straightened herself and fixed her glasses before they slipped as she then noticed the charred and black land left behind by the flames.

"Well that battle was intense, wouldn't you say viewers?! From the looks of it, Striker's health has hit zero and he was transported back…that means Shadow wins the battle. The Winners are Kurotsubasa!" She announced on her mike.

"Man, I don't know what happened in those five seconds, it looked as if Shadow produced a small afterimage of himself and hid behind it so that he could jump over his kick. I didn't know flames could do that!" Plugman yelled.

"Exactly, those flames couldn't create clones and illusions are another power but none that Shadow has. That was impossible!" Emeline shouted.

"Was that by speed or…?" Aiko tried to think.

"DB, what exactly was that?" Bella asked to the smirking young man.

"Well that's easy; it's the flames of awesomeness that Shadow used to lead himself to victory." DB smiled.

"I think she means the clone, DB" Illu said.

"That heat, with the intense heat coming from those fire swords Shads was able to make a small mirage. It was a gutsy move, but it allowed him that chance to plan. Even if Striker had chosen an overhead kick Shadow could have feinted under his guard and attack from below." Key explained.

"It was gutsy, but that heat from the first fire and then the swords as well as the field helped to his advantage. Even if it's crazy, Shads always has a plan." Ravena said readjusting her glasses with a small smile.

Dismissing the swords tiredly, Shadow let out a breath of relief since the battle was over. Soon he saw rings come down and he then vanished. In the Gravity Room, the doors opened as Shawn walked out of the Scanner and fell to his knees.

"That was intense, felt like I was going to die several times." Shawn said to himself. 'I need a new training method.' He thought as he gathered his things out and left the room. Shawn then walked out to where the rest of Kurotsubasa was standing while he could see Tulio was with his Guild speaking to them.

"VOUS IMBECILE! If you weren't playing around since the beginning you could've won the match!" Emeline rave while pummeling her fists at the chuckling Tulio who blocked with one arm smiling.

"Hey, I can't help it if I wanted to enjoy myself a bit. Besides there's always FFW now that the Guild Wars have started." Tulio said, not really caring for the outcome.

The Kick-Off event was one thing; however, Tulio knew where to find Kurotusbasa when he was ready. He had seen how Shadow fought with other gifts, now he wants to see if he's just as good with his own powers.

"Tulio is right, there's always next time Emeline. And by then you would be participating too." Aiko tried to reason with her as well.

Over at Kurotsubasa's side, they have given Shawn their congratulations. Though a few went more to giving him pats on the back like Bella and DB.

"I got to admit, you had me worried up there man." DB said. "I'm glad that it was my power that was the deciding mark."

"Hey what are you talking about?! It was my Toon World power that was able to push things our way!" Bella objected.

"C-can't we just be happy that Shadow-kun won and it's all over?" Illu asked as she tried to play peacemaker between the two whole Key and Ravena continued to talk to Shadow.

"So, how did it feel in there?" Key asked, knowing the experience of what it was like to go through a Gravity Room for the first time.

"It reminded me of Code Lyoko from the looks, but I came out exhausted. With the Visor it's more of a mental strain, but actually using that Gravity Room felt like I was using my whole body." Shawn said with a sigh. "I'm going to need that nap on the plane ride home."

"Please don't remind me of the plane." Ravena said, placing her things in her bag; happy to be keeping the 'Neko-Boy' pictures. "Though congratulations, at least we made it through the Kick-Off." She said as they all saw the All-Stars walk off the stage and out to the crowd.

"At least it's over…" Shawn said before noticing someone was walking to the stage towards them.

It was a woman wearing a white suit and skirt with long platinum blonde hair; walking beside her were several of the security guards for the Stadium. The crowd was hushed as she reached Kurotsubasa with six medals around her arms with FFW's logo across the front.

"To see the wildcard team make it far and win, it is the perfect example that with FFW anything is possible, but I had to see the outcome myself firsthand." The woman began with speaking as she gave each of Kurotsubasa a medal. "Kurotsubasa, you certainly have earned your victory today and I hope to see more victories like this when the Guild Wars begin!" She said, looking at the crowd who cheered at the last statement. The woman gave the guild a final small bow before walking away.

"Who was that just now, an Admin?" DB asked.

"No, rarer, that was Hikari Murakumo. She's the Director of Murakumo Industries…one of the makers of FFW." Key said.

"Wait, you mean the Boss of FFW just greeted us?" Bella asked in surprise.

"To make a public appearance…why would she?" Ravena asked looking down at her medal.

"I rather not know," Shawn said, surprising them. "We won her competition and she came down to congratulate us. Let's not worry about why she's here and thanked us directly."

"True," Illu said as she held her medal.

"By the way, about directly; don't think you're off the hook Shads." Bella said as she grabbed Shawn's arm and began to lead him out.

"Bella, what the hell are you doing?" Shawn asked, seeing that the others were following and he wasn't putting up a fight to get out of the girl's grip.

"Introductions, you didn't think you could get out of that did you?" Bella smirked as the guild was now in a private room by themselves that she led them to. "After today, I think we've all more than earned the right to know each other's names." She said.

Shawn looked at the others who were also smiling and looking expectantly at him making him sigh in defeated. "OK you guys win this one."

"SWEET~!" cheered Bella slapping Shawn happily on the back making him flinch a little before regaining his composure. "Come on! Username, Name, Age, Country, GO!"

Shawn nodded and faced his team and began. "Shadowlight0982: Shawn McMillan. Age: 19, South Carolina/USA. Pleased to meet you."

Bella excitedly stepped forward next. "TheHynaGeneral: Arabella Kelly! Age: 19, Memphis/Tennessee! But please, feel free to stick to Bella~!"

Key nodded his head at his turn. "Keybladedude: Leon (I know, the irony). Age: 20, South Florida/USA. Saludos everyone."

DB tilted his Fedora in greeting. "Drummerboy4Life: Michael McConville. Age: 16, London/UK. Cheers!"

Illu stepped forward and bowed politely in greeting. "Illusionist Owl : Kohaku Manami. Age: 17, Kyoto/Japan. Nice to meet you all."

Finally, Ravena re-adjusted her glasses once more and smiled a bit: "Ravena Felidae: Adiba Mustafa. Age: 21, Singapore. All my friends call me Abby," Ravena, or rather Abby, greeted when she realized her group was staring at her in shock.

"What?"

"EH?!" the others including Shawn exclaimed in shock.

"Uso Desho?! You're 21?! But you look no older than me!" exclaimed Kohaku.

"I thought you were in junior high at least!" admitted Bella while Abby simply lifted her hood and shielded her face in shadow once more while giving an all too familiar smirk.

"I get that a lot. I am quite a short person for my age anyway…"

Michael leaned towards the guys. "I don't think her height's the main issue though…." He whispered to the two who folded their arms and nodded in unison. Michael's shoulders clenched however feeling a finger tap his shoulder from behind and he turned to see the smiling, hooded face of Abby.

"I'm sorry Mickie dear, was there something you wanted to tell me?" She asked.

"N-no, nothing" Michael backed up, not liking the look she had in her eyes. Meanwhile, the others were still examining their prize.

"So how exactly do these medals work? Why are these the prizes?" Kohaku asked, though she did admire the design on the front.

"On the back of each of these is a code, when we put them into FFW it will unlock something special. It could be a rare item, a map to a secret area, maybe even an upgrade for your character." Leon explained. "It may sound small, but then again events like these also give away the new things first like these PT's."

"Now that you mention it…the PT's really are amazing; they have almost everything. Items, Stats, Journals…there's even a contact list?" Kohaku said surprised as she was now on a new screen.

"Sure that isn't just your friend's list Il-uh…Kohaku?" Shawn asked as he walked over to see what was on her PT.

"No, it's almost like a phone book contact. Can these actually call each other?" Kohaku then handed hers to Shawn to own as she seemed to be looking into her bag for something. Shawn seemed to have discovered something while Illu seemed to have pulled out a screwdriver with a set of goggles on her head. "Guess we'll have to take it apart and find out." She said excitedly.

"Or we can just test it…" Kohaku then blushed embarrassedly when she saw Shawn had her PT back to her with his name now on the list. She then nodded and then pressed on Shawn's name; they all then waited for something to happen when they suddenly heard a dial tone ring through.

"I guess these things do work like phones; of course Murakumo Industries would make this kind of future tech stuff…and all for a game!" Michael said excitedly at the potential of his new PT.

"Before you throw your old phone away you know there has to be a catch to it right?" Leon asked, stopping Michael's enjoyment.

"Man, you're as much as a buzz-kill here as you are online."

"That's because I'm more realistic!"

"More like pessimistic!"

"Ok boys calm down." Bella got between them before they could get into another argument.

"So this is where you all are, I thought that you may have boarded the planes already." All of them turned to see a security guard walk into the room.

"Oh, is everybody packing up for the flights back?" Bella asked.

"Yes, but Ms. Murakumo would like to speak with all of you before you board. Don't worry about missing the flights; we'll keep them in the strip for as long as she needs to speak with you and to make sure everyone else is on board." The guard explained. With that they all looked at each other before following the Guard out of the private room into a nearby elevator. After a while they all were brought into another room where Hikari and two other Guards were waiting.

"Ah you were able to find them easily, that's good." Hikari thanked the man as she turned her full attention to Kurotsubasa. "I'm sorry if I'm keeping you away from anything important back at your homes, but I had you brought up here for a reason." She said, pausing to make sure they had heard her clearly. "I would like for all of you to stay here as guests on this island with me. At least until the Guild Wars is over."

"Huh?!" That was the universal response they all gave her.

"Ano, Ms. Murakumo, not that the offer isn't a good one but why would you want us to stay here?" Kohaku was the first to ask.

"One reason would be for volunteering for some FFW projects, the Kick-Off was also another way to see how everyone would be able to handle the new PTs as well as the new features it has and what better way than a group of players that know each others so well." Hikari explained. "You wouldn't need to worry about accommodations and we can see your parents or guardians about permission."

"Really, us helping you work on FFW together…that would awesome, I mean a pleasure!" Michael said, getting excited at the idea.

"What about some of us with jobs or things like that?" Shawn pulled up. The idea of doing this for Murakumo Industries was a once in a lifetime idea but he still had other obligations.

"I'm sure I can help settle some things out. For example; since you Shawn are an intern at one of our American branch companies it shouldn't be a problem to get their cooperation." Hikari proposed as an example, and we will make sure you are rewarded for helping us with our work.

"Oh man, when do we start?!" Bella said, with her eyes wide with excitement. Everyone else laughed at her enthusiasm but none of them seemed to have a reason to object to the kind woman's offer.

"Looks like we all accept." Ravena said.

"That's good…don't worry you won't have to worry about anything too extreme at the moment. Let's get you to where you will be staying." Hikari said as she sent another guard out to send word to the planes that they were cleared to leave. Kurotsubasa then followed Hikari and the rest out of the Gravity Dome to where they will be staying.

(Meanwhile in FFW)

"Guild Wars you say?" Kusanagi asked as she had Raiden in front of her to report the latest news.

"Yeah, everyone all around the world are getting ready for it. It's this big competition for all the Guilds around trying to raise their ranks and become the strongest one out there. It's bigger than just a big organized tournament it's like a sport to these humans." Raiden explain, though there was a bit of boredom in his tone.

"It's more than just a sport; to some Guilds it's even more. It's how some of them establish their identities and gain areas for themselves." Whisk clarified.

"I understand the gist; it almost reminds me of how these humans used to fight and kill each other just to own a small speck of land and then expand it. Now it's become a popular form of entertainment." Kusanagi said with a wave of her hand there was a visual of all the different Guild symbols inside FFW. "Many of them form guilds for their own motives…but those motives can easily be their downfall."

"Have something planned Princess?" Whisk asked.

"For now just stand by, we don't need to have Admin trying to snoop around for our location even if they couldn't reach this place if they tried." Kusanagi said. "However…it's interesting seeing how far these Guilds go out of things like munny and pride." With a smile, the dark queen waved her hand and the screen vanished. "Raiden, go along with your next assignment. I'll send more work for you to do when the time comes."

"Sure sure," Raiden said with his hands behind his head as he walked out of the room.

"And what's my next job to do, Nagi?" Whisk asked.

"To do training with the others. If I'm not mistaken you still have people still on the search for you?" Kusanagi said.

"Please, not even Rave can find this place. Shadow might, considering you said he still has that small link you gave him, but he probably just sees me as Sis's problem." Whisk said as he rubbed his right wrist. "Plus your little gift will give me all that I need to not make a mistake."

"All the more reason to best get to training, wouldn't want to keep you-know-who waiting." Kusanagi said with a smirk.

"Don't remind me," Whisk said as he then left the room.

After Whisk had left the throne room Kusanagi then looked up to the small sky light showing her the evening sky. 'So dear sister, you think you are the only one capable of stirring things. Well… while you're too busy making ripples I'll be making waves…' smirked Kusanagi while chucking sinisterly.

TBC…

Long isn't it, one of the unusually long chapters but we are introducing a new season technically so I think it's worth the length though I may never match it until we get to a few other things. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I will see you all next time.

-Shadowlight0982 out.