Every chapter that is posted after being edited by JNaegi is a teardrop down my face. It's getting close to the end of the story. Of course I would have to re-write the chapters later so if you have any concerns or arguments about the story please tell me. Just know that besides anything that sounds too familiar to someone else's work, spelling errors, and beeped out curse words I'm not changing how the story goes. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'm glad you were fans enough to read this far. Please read and review.

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Kou Residence

Akagi blinked at what the witty teen gave her a wry grin. "I might even know where Ian has taken him!" Gero stated with enthusiasm.

She appeared skeptical. Not because she doubted him…not in the least. "All right than, where is master Taichi?"

The hazel-eyed, silver-haired teen was about to give an answer someone beat him to the punch.

"He is currently in the Twenty Five Floors of Lucifer's Labyrinth." Daisuke said as he mysteriously appeared from behind Gero.

Any normal person (say Ichigo for example) would have freaked out by this mysterious spectacle man popping out of nowhere but Akagi actually did good with keeping her cool…for about a couple of seconds.

Gero on the other hand, even though surprised, kept composure as he spoke to Daisuke. "That part didn't come up ya know? Hi Daisuke, what are you doing here?"

Before an answer could be given Akagi grabbed Gero by the neck in an impressive arm hold! "All right, who is he and why on earth aren't you shocked by seeing this...person?" She screeched as she also wondered why she felt this guy exhibit a feeling of contempt for his fellow man.

He struggled as she released him from the hold and coughed. "Yeah, sorry about that Akagi; this is my friend's cousin, Daisuke. He watches over the Hinata apartments. He has a tendency appear like Batman."

Daisuke and Akagi gave each other a look of understanding and the latter continued bending Gero's arm until he cried uncle and apologized for the corny joke. After that settled (and Gero rubbing his arm) Daisuke soon spoke and gave his response to the ruffian's earlier question.

"I figured someone was watching me after that 'adventure' in hell." He began as the glasses wearing teen used air quotes. "It not an assumption that you all were being watched to make sure to keep everything on the down low."

"How is that possible though that a move got made now? I've told Akagi I've been to hell. Why hasn't anything happened to me before?" Gero asked as he did tell her those things off panel.

The poignant half-breed gave an all knowing look. "I can assume that Akagi never believed you to begin with. She probably humored you and thought that you had an over active imagination and being in denial about your friend." Daisuke replied as he looked at said maid.

She only gave nod as he went back to Gero. "Lucifer's search was profound and secretly plotting against Satan. With only a little extra power he still couldn't stop him, which is why he kidnapped your new friend. Might not believe me but he has the same power as the womanizer…"

Gero gave a roll of his eyes. "Let me guess, he's going to absorb their powers to finally defeat Satan?"

Daisuke shook his head. "This time Lucifer isn't working alone; he has a wizard along with trying to make a deal with another god."

Gero stared dumbfounded by this new bit of information. Akagi on the other hand confronted Daisuke.

"It is rather hard to grasp with this talk of the supernatural. I don't care about that all I want is to know how to get to master Taichi." She stated firmly. "Can you get us there?"

A nod. "It's a good thing I've been building a device since that will take us directly to the twenty fourth floor of hell."

This made Gero's eyes go wide, he didn't like the fact that of going to hell again, not after that last adventure. His ass still had burn marks that wouldn't go away!

'To think I have to go back there? Geez, why couldn't my life just be like some random slice of life scenario? I wonder why this development had to happen.' Gero wondered as he asked a question. "Why the twenty fourth floor? Wouldn't it be easier to just go the twenty-fifth floor?"

Daisuke folded his arms. "Each floor has a miasma that feels like you're being suffocated by your own hands. If we go directly to the twenty-fifth floor you will for all intense and purposes die."

A pause. "Okay than" Gero clapped his hands. "The twenty-fourth floor it is than!"

Gero soon found himself face to face with a rather determined maid. "You will not leave me behind!" She responded. "If my master is in Lucifer's Labyrinth than I will come with you!"

Even though he shouldn't have been surprised Gero was. "What?"

The brown-eyed maid gaze didn't waver. "Even though you are determined, you are still a ruffian along with my mind will not be at ease leaving this sort of job in your…capable hands."

"Aww come on, Akagi; I will bring Taichi back. He is my student and I still got to teach him stuff!" Gero exclaimed which she rolled her eyes.

"Please, teach him to be some pervert! Besides," She whispered this to him as she brought him in close; their noses touched. "You told me I am very capable. Along with I don't want anything happening to you, Gero."

This caused said person to blush.

Akagi tried fighting off the blush radiating off her cheeks. "I…just don't want you going there without me to watch over you."

A frown from the teen. "Aww man, like some teacher or a concerned mother?"

Moments later Gero favored his right toe.

"I mean as someone who has grown concerned for you!" Akagi said with haste as she turned around.

Seeing her tsundere side come out made Gero appreciate her more. He turned her around gently. "I'm glad you're coming with me, Akagi."

The two looked into each other's eyes as if they were that couple in Sleepless in Seattle before that moment was ruined by loud voice!

"And you aren't going alone!" Rina stated as she interrupted the love connection. If Ian's there I want to go so I can pound him like the idiot he is!"

Eyes widening with disbelief the crew from the Hinata Apartments invaded- I mean, came over the Kou estate. This set Akagi's alarm off as strangers just appeared like a group of lemmings!

"I'm sorry but who let you in this house?" Akagi asked the blonde teenager.

Rina gave a mischievous smile. "That little one right there." She pointed to Aoishi who smiled at the many people coming through the door.

"Sankarea heard a loud commotion coming from the outside and she saw them. I wanted to see them." Aoshi spoke proudly.

A sigh escaped Akagi's lips. "I know they helped us but they could have contacted us first…wait, how on earth did they know to come-!" She stopped as she saw Daisuke looking unashamed by knowing more information than he let on.

'I need to remind myself to update all the security and any kind of electronic information after this!' She thought as she ushered all of the party to the living room. Soon the Kou residence were feeling better and sat themselves down.

Gero soon glanced at Rina at her earlier exclamation. "Look I know you all have been looking for Ian but it's going to be dangerous. He took us out without even breaking a sweat!"

Rina countered his statement. "Come off it, ya know Ian wouldn't that to us, even if he is an idiot with a liking for animals and females falling for him like one of those stereotypical anime girls. I'm going and that's final!" The blonde replied back easily.

Gero dropped his head. "Fine tiger girl, you can come."

The black-haired teen, Kaede also raised her hand. "I'm coming too. I failed to help Ian given what happened to him. I want to rectify my mistake and save him!"

Motoko raised her hand as well. "I will come as well; you might require my swordplay along with I won't let my daughter go into the lion's den without me." A glance came to Kaede who smiled.

Gero turned to Daisuke. "You as well, dude?"

"Why even ask?" Daisuke spoke. "Kimza will not be joining us on the excursion because she's pregnant." He briefly held said girl's hand which she squeezed gently before he returned to important matters. "The miasma of the labyrinth is enough to make her sick at every moment. Who else will go with us?"

The buxom Sankarea raised her hand with a smirk. "I'm going because Ian hasn't kissed me yet." Aoshi soon raised her hand until the older sister placed her hand down. "No Aoshi, you're too young to go on this adventure."

This made the green-haired girl pout. "But I'll be really good and won't make a peep. Please let me go!"

At this moment Yui offered her services. "I can watch over her. With my frying pan fighting skills any demon that come near us are as good as gone."

Some sweat dropped at that proclamation but her friends could attest to her skills with a kitchen utensil.

Foxy grinned. "Don't forget fire. My oiled fists will burn those demons."

As the group was about to hit a consensus a male voice soon was heard coming from the entrance. "I-I want to help too."

Keitaro and Naru looked surprised and exclaimed. "Shinobu and Kentaro?"

Shinobu, after Ian's little "visit" and tending to some wounds had forgotten to get Kentaro from the train station (apparently he worked outside the country).

The light-brown haired adult gave his rival a head lock. "Darn it Keitaro! I was going to the Hinata House to wish you a merry Christmas and then to my surprise Shinobu tells me the gist of what's happening and you are going on an adventure without us?"

It took a couple of moments until Kentaro let go of Keitaro as the latter rubbed his neck.

"You two want to go on an adventure with us?" the brown-haired former protagonist shrunk down to secondary status asked.

The now adult Shinobu, who was taller with a nice lithe frame, nice oppai that went from an A to C due to her age and hair was slightly longer (no more loli!) she spoke. "We do and you don't have to worry about me being the little crybaby I used to be. I won't get in the way!"

As if there wasn't enough people in the household another couple appeared to Akagi's shock due to people coming into the mansion (she'd really be stepping up security after).

It was the former hell-raiser of the Hinata house (apartments…whatever) Sarah McDougal. The once annoying, absurd, little girl was now a woman; she still retained her long blond hair which seemed even silkier from when she was a kid, she had a lithe body as well and blue eyes but her mischievous behavior was still there.

"Don't forget about me!" Sarah shouted loudly for all to hear as they did a typical face fault at her random appearance. "If my daughter is going to fight than so am I! I mean who do you think taught her self-defense?" She declared as she did a couple of punches. That was thanks for her Jeet Kune Do training she received from her "papa" Seta.

The buxom, dark-haired Erina soon spoke. "And I want to save my fiancée, Taichi."

"He isn't your fiancé until you go through bridal training for the Kou name!" Akagi sniped which started a glaring war between the two.

Tamura intervened and stated his claim. "And I want to help my sister Erina."

"We all want to help." Some voices declared coming from the front door.

"Seriously where are you people coming from?" Akagi exclaimed angrily as Keitaro did a roll call of the voices.

"Kimiaki, Masayuki, Megumi. Aunt Haruka-!" He ended up at rear end of Haruka's fist as she replied "Don't call me aunt" and he continued with the last person and former sensei. "Noriyasu Seta!"

The now graying Seta gave a relaxed smiled. "We may be old now but that doesn't me we will just sit around while the rest of our friends are in trouble." He said before meeting a blow to the stomach by his now wife, Haruka. "Ack, what was that for?"

"For calling me old…" Haruka said in her usual detached way as she popped in a cigarette.

Kimaiki was one of Keitaro's friends; he was still chubby but good natured and retained his love for magical girl. Rumors are he is banned from some magical girl café in Akihabara. Surprisingly enough he is dating a famous cosplayer who adores him. Masayuki was the other friend and leader of the trio of nerds back in their notorious years. He looked the same however does have a steady girlfriend who enjoys his feet (yeah I went there).

"Even if we have to face Satan ourselves he can't stop us, we have been through a lot, seen things no one ever will, and we overcame them together!" Sarah declared about to go into the territory of "friendship speeches" until a flying turtle came out of the void and glided around the room (even scaring the usual stoic Motoko who had to be calmed down by her daughter).

"You too Tama?" Naru asked as the turtle landed in her hands.

Tama lifted up a fin (or whatever turtles have) and replied with, "Taaaaaa!"

Toru (the snow leopard) made his presence known as he gave a confirmation growl. "Grrroww!"

Naru smiled as she turned to her husband and daughter. "If everyone here than isn't it destiny that we will get back our son?"

As the unification was made Daisuke became the ball buster. "I hate to break up your excitement but there's a problem."

Kanako, who also was there but kept her presence hidden, turned to her son. "What's the matter?"

He answered. "My device can only deliver seven people to a place at one time…."

Nothing was said for a couple of moments until….

"Wahhhhh?" Everyone cried shaking the entire house.

Sarah turned to the teenager. "You have got to be shitting me. We get everyone together and you say only seven of us can go? It's like a disappointing ending to a movie!"

"Why does it only teleport seven people?" Gero asked with a confused frown.

"Are you mocking physics?" Daisuke replied back with a sneer. "I was building it before I decided to sell my inventions. This was going to be sold as well but I didn't want it to be used for terrorist purposes so I made it so only a few people could enter it and it could only teleport once a day."

The blue-haired daughter of Shinobu (and Kentaro…maybe?) spoke. "But we need an army to go against those demons. Lucifer alone defeated everyone in the Hinata House!"

Daisuke appeared apologetic. "I had no idea this would happen. I'm sorry." He was soon comforted by Kimza and his mother.

Rina rolled her eyes and sniped. "For being a genius Daisuke you really know how to disappoint someone."

The silver-haired skater boy soon counted. "Seven of us; theirs me, Daisuke, Akagi, Kaeda, Motoko, Chazona…but who should be the seventh person to go with us down there?"

Chazona, who remained quiet held her all-knowing gaze to Gero.

'Hmm, It should be Yui, Foxy, Erina, or Tamura. They're the strongest ones at single combat.' He thought.

Rina soon raised her hand. "I'll go." Everyone stared at her. "Stop staring at me like that. I said I'm going and I will help you save Ian from Lucifer's Twenty-Five Floors of 'I Don't Care'!"

Daisuke turned to the strong-willed girl. "Rina, your specialty is with animals, correct? Well there are no animals in this labyrinth. It's only demons working for Lucifer who will want to kill, eat and even turn you into a doll for their nefarious purposes."

"I don't care about that!" Rina yelled at the genius half-breed.

The ever-calm Chazona spoke. "What Daisuke is trying to say is we will be worried for your safety should you go in there."

She shook her head at the high-psychic. "I refuse to stay here and wait while you guys go look for that idiot on your own. If you want a new team ditch Gero and put Seta in!"

Gero vetoed that idea lickey-split! "Hey, Ian's my friend. I have more than a right to go there then you!"

"What about Kaeda and Motoko?" Rina argued.

Kaeda started getting gun shy. "I-I have to…I just…Ian is my…" She didn't finish the rest.

"She is trying to make up for losing him in the first place." Motoko said for her daughter.

Daisuke also got involved. "And Motoko is the strongest one we know other than Seta."

"But I want to sit back and let you guys take care of it." Seta responded with that easy going smile.

Haruka raised an eyebrow. "You sure about this?" she replied blowing out a ring of smoke.

"Of course, we'll be the back-up just in case but this is something for them to do." Seta said easily.

Daisuke soon counted. "So it will be Gero, Akagi, Kaeda, Motoko, Chazona, Rina and myself going? I want all you to stand together in a perfect circle.".

Rina appeared confused. "Does that mean I can come with you?"

The main group stared at her like she grew a second head.

This in turn made her blush as she started talking fast. "I mean…you better bring me with you. I'll beat all of you if it means I can come with you!"

Aoshi hugged Gero's waist and then Akagi's. "Please come back you two!"

Akagi wrapped her arms around the girl as Gero ruffled her hair. "Not to worry, we'll be back kiddo!"

The Hinata crew did their encouragement for their group as said people got in a circle around Daisuke.

He bent down to let Kimza kiss him good luck as he looked at the core group. "I hope this can be our last battle; I used to fight because my enemies were always after my research, but now I want to fight to help my friends."

Too some of the group Daisuke sounded like a certain Shinigami from that Shonen manga/anime.

Daisuke soon activated the switch as Rina looked on with determination.

'Hold on, Ian. We're coming.'

Soon there was a flash of light and the group was gone.

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Kaeda spoke first. 'When are we allowed to open our eyes?'

'Not yet, Kaeda!' Daisuke replied with a frustrated look on his face.

'When are we going to stop using telepathy in here? It's making me feel sick.' Rina replied as they were indeed using telepathy to talk.

'Not as sick as you would be if you opened your eyes or mouth. This portal is filled with dangerous toxins that could be as painful as a needle to the eye if you are not careful.'

Akagi spoke. 'He must be joking.'

Gero, keeping his mouth shut answered the maid. 'I've known Daisuke for a long time and he has never lied to me once. He sure isn't wrong about a lot of stuff either and that makes me ticked at him.'

He soon opened his eyes briefly and screamed in their heads. 'Why are my eyes so bright? It burns.'

Daisuke kept his cool. 'We are reaching the exit. Now is the time to open your eyes.'

The group soon found themselves in an open space which was a corridor of some sort. The ground had black tiles while the walls were like something out of a European dungeon.

Gero looked baffled. "Is this the twenty-fourth floor?"

The others tried getting their bearings on this place.

"How strange…" Daisuke replied.

Motoko gave him a glance. "What's strange, Daisuke?"

Daisuke didn't reply as he pulled out a hand-held device that was the size of a cell.

"What is that thing?" Akagi asked.

"Think of it as a PDA and a GPS system only I built it to locate demons and build a map of their environment." Daisuke answered not looking away from the screen. "It's just as I feared. We have been accidentally taken to the first floor.

Rina appeared abashed by this as she yelled. "The first floor; that's more floors then you promised brainiac!"

Daisuke didn't look upset. "It's a slight setback but it's also a good chance to get used to this labyrinth. The air here is so hard to walk in you would feel like you're walking on a treadmill; unable to move any part of your bones."

Gero ran his hands through his hair with exasperation. "This is the kind of stuff you have to tell people before you take them, Daisuke."

He gave a mild look to the teen. "I did tell you there is some difficulties in being in the labyrinth. Hence that's why it's called a labyrinth. You know like that old David Bowie movie you and Ian watched together?" This stopped Gero in his tracks as Daisuke hid a smirk. "There's nothing like puzzles and tricky traps here to make you feel alive!"

Kaeda soon walks forward unknown of the danger as a green mist starts leaking in. The green substance surrounds her frame as she begins coughing shocking the group until Daisuke rushes in and grabs her. Kaeda soon collapses on the ground and her body is shaking uncontrollably. Motoko grabs ahold of her daughter and yells her name with fear.

Daisuke soon gets a syringe with a bottle full of the antidote and sticks the girl in the arm as the tremors die down, to the relief of Motoko.

"Every step you take can take you to your death or a demon." Daisuke replies. "Make sure to keep your wits about you."

Everyone agrees as they head cautiously through the labyrinth; where Ian awaits them.

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The group has arrived in Lucifer's labyrinth but is on the first floor. What challenges await them and will they be able to get to Ian? Find out next time and like always, there will be plenty of fanservice in the next chapter too!