Nexus: Heroes Will Rise

by tmb1112

Universal borders have been erased and beings from thousands of universes now live on the same world: Nexus. In the first Saga of Nexus, Awul was saved, but the mysteries of Nexus remain. Now our heroes sail across the sea to Aebrith to search for lost loved ones and save the world. MCs from DBZ, KH, Soul Eater, FT, Blue Exorcist, Bleach, 7DS, OP, Ben 10, SAO, HxH, and many more!

70. Nexus HWR 11-2 Pits of Despair

Nexus HWR 11.2 Pits of Despair:

Darkness fell over the continent of Aebrith the night after Natsu Dragneel took down Fire Lord Sozin. All over the continent, word of the High Lord's defeat had spread. The resulting battles that took place throughout the Fire Nation's lands had already taken several thousand lives, and seen the downfalls of three Lords. Pyraxas got taken over by two different groups before a third, incredibly powerful force moved in and took the city.

The woman sitting on Sozin's throne leaned back in her magnificent chair. The roof of the building around her was rebuilding on its own. Walls were rising and the scarlet-haired woman sat on her chair with her cheek resting against her right hand in a calm manner while she waved around her left. Chairs lifted up on the sides of the room and pieces of broken wood formed tables. Her soldiers took seats around the tables, and the woman in charge lowered her hands as the throne room fully rebuilt itself.

Two of the soldiers walked right up to the bottom of the stairs and looked up at the woman on the throne. One of them wore a long black dress to her feet and had long dark hair to match, while the other looked like her twin only wearing a shorter white dress and had pigtails of light orange hair. "Lady Eileen," the one in white spoke and bowed her head a little. "Please command us, the elite of the Eileen Squad, to hunt down the ones Emperor Spriggan wants dead!"

"It would be our honor," the other spoke in a more quiet and composed tone than her bright comrade.

"Mmm," Eileen hummed. She leaned up straight in her chair and shook her head to move some of her thick dark red hair out of the way. She had on a black witch's hat with a sharp point at the top and a skimpy set of black clothing composed of a sash over her chest, one over her lower stomach, and a dark cloth falling down from her waist down between her legs to the bottom of her black stockings. She held up her left hand and a staff sitting against the wall behind her flew over to her hands, "So soon after taking the city, you wish to hunt down enemies who have eliminated two of the Spriggan 12? I am impressed my soldiers," she complimented and slammed her staff down on the ground.

Eileen stood up to her feet, "But I will not send you alone. I will come as well. I wish to meet these fighters who could defeat three members of Lord Spriggan's most elite force."

"Lady Eileen is coming?" the girl in white exclaimed excitedly. Juliet Sun put her hands together and hopped from one foot to the other with glee. "This will be so much fun."

"However," the dark haired kunoichi next to her twin spoke up. Heine Lunasea had her arms crossed in front of her chest and she frowned, "If we all go hunting them, chances are we may lose Pyraxas."

"Oh, I trust the rest of my soldiers to watch over the city in my absence," Eileen said calmly. The rest of the troops in the room sitting at tables cheered and waved mugs around or took chugs out of them. "Only you two will come with me, so the other members of the 12 in the city will also be here to-"

"Actually," a deep, dark voice spoke from the side of the room. He stepped out of the darkness and most people in the room shivered as they had not seen him come in. "I will also be going. Larcade can handle the city on his own."

Eileen hummed again and she nodded her head. "Very well, Bloodman. I do hope you spend at least a little time getting to know these fighters before you execute them. It is more enjoyable that way."

"I will only follow the orders Emperor Spriggan gave me," Bloodman said in his deep, scratchy voice. "But those orders do not say how quick His Majesty's enemies' deaths must be." His lips curled up into a smirk and Eileen chuckled.

"Very well. Larcade," she called out. "Please watch over the city while we are gone." Eileen tapped her staff down on the ground again, and a white light spread out from the bottom of it. The light spread to the walls and blinded everyone inside. Her soldiers groaned and rose up their arms, and when they lowered them, Eileen, her two most elite soldiers, and Bloodman had all disappeared.

A young man sitting on the roof of the building Eileen just fixed stared into the distant south. "I would have also liked to come with you Eileen. I am not too concerned that you will succeed however, as it is I who will be the one to kill Natsu Dragneel." The boy with spiky blond hair sat cross-legged on top of the roof in the darkness of night, only illuminated by the flames rising up from buildings all over Pyraxas. Screams rang out in the background but he ignored them completely as he stared south. He had narrowed eyes, a black tattoo on his left shoulder marking his place as one of the Spriggan 12, and a diamond earring in his left ear, as well as a tight black necklace around his neck with a white ring on the bottom of it. On his back was strapped a large golden cross with the points aimed diagonally up from his shoulders and out at the sides of his waist.

The young man closed his eyes and he brought up his hands in front of his body where he pressed his palms together. Larcade's eyes snapped open, black as the night, and he whispered in a dark voice, "Someday soon I will kill Zeref, but before then I will kill you, uncle."

---

"Oh crap!" Franky exclaimed and stumbled backwards. The large, brightly-colored cyborg made everyone else look over with his shout. They turned to the side of their campfire and saw a part of the ground much darker than the rest. A circle of darkness started swirling on the floor and out of it rose two figures. They were relieved to see them, the taller of whom was a sight for sore eyes, as the pirates around the fire had gotten tired of seeing Riku inside Ansem's body.

Riku stepped out of the portal as his teenage self, his silver hair spiky, wearing a yellow shirt with a black X in the center of it. Usopp looked over and frowned at the sight of Riku emerging from the darkness. Don't be fooled by his appearance. Not again, the sharpshooter warned himself. After thinking it though, Usopp got distracted by the appearance of the other person who rose with Riku.

"Hey Ben, you alright?" Natsu asked. He stood up from his seat next to the fire. The Fire Dragon Slayer had scratches on his face and his already injured body looked worse than earlier, but he looked more concerned for Ben now.

The younger boy had his left arm down at his side and his right hand held across his body to grab himself by the wrist. His wrist ached with terrible pain and even a few blasts of Riku's magic did little to make the empty feeling there go away. He felt so naked, and as he lowered his right hand his friends could see why.

"Whoa," Nami whispered. She stood up fast and walked over to his side to look at the black skin all around Ben's wrist.

"What happened?" Luffy asked, eyes wide. "Your watch is…"

"There was this man in front of Ben, he seemed to be the one controlling the dragon," Riku explained to the others. Most of them shivered as they thought about the dragon that made them all run away. Luffy tssked and clenched his teeth in anger that he ran, but later that day when they got to some higher ground and looked around the landscape they ran from, everything had been torched and he knew it was a good decision. Riku continued, "He was also the one who took Ben's Omnitrix."

Ben clenched his teeth in anger and his eyes closed hard as he thought about something that man told him. He darted his eyes over to Natsu for a second, and his teeth clenched even more while his heart started racing. He looked down at his left wrist, and his hand beneath the black skin clenched hard. "I want it back," Ben growled.

"Hey little dude, we get what you're feeling, but-" Franky began.

"You don't understand," Ben snapped back. "That watch," Ben shook his head. "It was my responsibility. I promised Azmuth I would keep looking after it. I, ever since Castle Oblivion I've been training harder than ever with it. I don't want all that training to go to waste. I don't want to be weak-"

"That's not true," Riku said down to his friend. "You are strong even without-"

"I know I am," Ben said. "I was going to say 'weak-er' because even without it I can still kick some bad guy butt." He lifted up his fists and they started to glow white, "Which is why we have to go after Zeref."

Most of the group there seemed nervous, but Luffy stood up and he punched a fist into his open palm. "Yosh! I'm with you Ben." The rest of his crew along with Kirito started getting up as well to agree, but Natsu had not spoken. Ben seemed to realize what he said and he spun to face Natsu with a nervous look.

"Ben, did you just say, Zeref?" Natsu asked.

Ben gulped and he nodded his head once, keeping a straight expression on his face. "Turns out, these Spriggan guys are under the command of High Lord Spriggan, and he and Zeref, are the same guy."

Natsu's hands clenched into fists. Robin turned to the pink haired man next to her and was surprised by the amount of anger on his face. "Do you know this Zeref, Natsu?"

"Yeah, I know the bastard," Natsu growled. Jellal, Ultear, Hades, Grimoire Heart! They were all following damn Zeref. He thought about the man he met on Tenroujima island, the one who made all life around him die. The forests, the animals, even his own soldiers. They all died just by getting close to him. "Let's go kick his ass." Natsu slammed his fists together in front of him and grinned a mouth full of glinting teeth.

"Yeah," Ben agreed, though his eyes lingered on Natsu for a second longer than they should have. "Anyway, I know it's a lot to ask, but could we go after him now? I don't like how he has my Omnitrix. If he were to do something to someone with it…"

"We understand Ben," Riku began. He put a hand down on Ben's shoulder though and glanced around at everyone who were about to agree with him. "But we need to rest." Ben spun to angrily look at his friend but Riku was not backing down. "We need to prepare too. The worst thing that could happen is we have to face that dragon, Bahamut. I was told by that King of Sand guy, that Bahamut is the one mainly responsible for the Cataclysm."

"No way," Sanji whispered.

"You've gotta be frickin' kidding me," Usopp gasped out. "That giant canyon we marched through for days, it really wasn't natural?!" There were always signs, but he tried to ignore them and imagine it was a natural phenomena anyway.

"No," Riku responded.

Natsu's eyes were dark and he thought about something. In Dressrosa, Acnologia mentioned another dragon. The one that injured him so much is probably this Bahamut. This thought actually made Natsu more nervous than the idea of the dragon ripping a multi-thousand mile long crack through the planet.

"So tomorrow morning," Riku continued, annoying Ben while he said it. "When we are well rested, we will go after Zeref and get Ben's Omnitrix back."

"And kick his ass," Luffy said, though his voice overlapped with someone else's. He turned and glared at Natsu who glared right back at him.

They opened their mouths to yell that they would be the one to do it, but Robin crossed her arms and said, "Quattro Fleur." Two arms stuck out of Luffy's head and two out of Natsu's. They covered up both men's mouths and everyone sighed in relief. Robin smiled a little and said in a calm voice, "Please save your strength for tomorrow. I have a feeling it will be quite a long day." She uncrossed her arms and her extra ones disappeared.

The two hot-headed powerhouses in the group glared at each other for a few more seconds, before humphing and turning away. Riku sighed at their actions, and then he popped a squat where he was currently standing. He noticed someone glaring down at him and opened up his eyes to look up at an angry-looking Ben. "Don't get mad at me Ben," Riku muttered up at him and he lowered back down his own gaze. "If I didn't have to create multiple portals at once to take out my enemy and save you at the same time, I would have the strength to go after this guy right now."

Ben's eyes opened wide and he clenched his teeth angrily, but he did look away. "Don't worry," Riku said, his voice less taunting now and a softer, more reassuring tone. Ben looked back but Riku was still not looking up at him. "I know how much your watch means to you. We'll get it back. You'll live without it for one day."

Ben sighed and he finally sat down next to Riku. "Yeah, you're right." He rubbed his own left wrist and muttered, "It just feels so strange. The Omnitrix has been on my wrist for over three whole years. I forgot what my arm actually looked like under it, haha," he chuckled to himself but stared at the black skin illuminated by their flickering fire in apprehension. "Though, Zeref really did mess up my arm. All he did was grab above the watch, and it felt like the life was slowly leaving my body." Ben thought he was speaking quietly but the others who were getting ready for bed around the fire all looked over towards him as he spoke. He whispered, "My soul felt like it was getting dragged out, and in my right hand the Keyblade appeared. I swung it at him and he backed off, but when he opened up his closed hand I saw he had taken the Omnitrix with him."

"How'd he grab onto your wrist in the first place?" Natsu asked. Ben looked over at his older friend and Natsu looked pretty interested, probably because he wanted to be the one to fight Zeref the next day.

"I-" Ben began. He tssked and looked away with a disappointed look, "My watch, went into the red. When I was fighting that chick who could stop time."

"So that's why you vanished?" Sanji brought up. Luffy sighed in relief as the reason for Ben's disappearance came to light, but he was also pretty interested in the woman who could control time. Sanji frowned, "But why were you able to fight her?"

"Yeah," Riku mumbled. He turned to the boy sitting next to him and looked confused as well, "How did you see through her time magic? You said you fought her for ten minutes while time was frozen, but you never explained how."

Ben looked away and he muttered under his breath, "Maybe it's because I've already traveled through time before. She couldn't stop me like everyone else." Riku kept frowning at him as he could tell Ben was keeping something from him, but the others all thought it was a reasonable explanation and just told Ben good job for beating her. Ben frowned at their praise though, "It's because she was too strong, that I didn't have the strength to face Zeref after. He moved too fast for me to follow…"

"Don't worry Ben," Riku said. He closed his eyes and leaned back to lay on the grass. Ben looked at his best friend and Riku continued with a smile, "Tomorrow, we'll take him on together. He won't be able to handle us all when we're ready for him."

Ben lifted his mouth up into a grin and he fell down to his back too. "Yeah, you're right. Guess I can get some sleep with that in mind," Ben admitted in a cocky tone.

Kirito chuckled and Franky grinned from a sleeping bag not far from him. Ben and Riku's confidence spread and the rest of the pirates all looked reassured at their chances for the next day, ignoring thoughts of the black wizard and the strength of his dragon. Natsu lay on his back though, staring up at the black sky full of stars in a more uneasy way. Zeref. Looks like Gray was right. Just, what do you want? Why order us dead? What is the purpose? "Damn," Natsu rolled onto his side and whispered, "Gray, Juvia, where are you guys?"

---

The Next Morning

"Alright, we'll split up into three groups," Riku began as he looked off to the east. He turned around to the rest of the group packing up their things in the early morning of the day following their fight with the Spriggan 12. The first sun rose behind him and his body had an odd yellow glow as the others looked at him. "We can cover more ground that way," Riku explained.

"Makes sense," Robin began. "But is it wise to split up when our enemies are so powerful?"

"That's why each group needs to have similar amounts of power. Myself, Luffy, and Kirito will each take a group." As Riku finished the sentence, he saw Natsu opening his mouth to argue, "Natsu will be coming with me and Ben. The three of us can handle whatever comes at us." Natsu realized that one of the groups was going to have more people so that meant their group was considered pretty strong if they only had three. He could accept that and he just crossed his arms and humphed in annoyance that he did not get his own group. Riku continued, "Luffy, you should take Nami and Franky. And Kirito, you take Sanji, Robin, and Usopp."

"Robin-chann!" Sanji exclaimed happily that he was put with her.

"Why should I only take Nami and Franky?" Luffy wondered to Riku.

"I think you'll get lost if Nami doesn't go with you," Riku began and Nami nodded her head stoically in agreement to that. "And you're taking Franky so that if something comes up that does turn out to be too much trouble for only three people, you can have him fire a beam into the sky. We should be able to see and hear it for miles around, so it makes for a good signal."

"I have an idea," Kirito spoke up. The others looked to him as he crossed his right hand over his left to make a small cross. "Shadow Clone Jutsu," he said, and another two Kiritos appeared next to him. He nodded at Riku who understood why he was doing this and nodded back. Kirito explained to the others though, "When my Shadow Clones get dismissed, my real body knows what they knew. So if any of us run into trouble, one of my clones will disappear and we'll head to your position."

The other two Kiritos nodded their heads in silent agreement with that plan. "Alright good, now each group has four people," Ben said and he clapped his hands together. "Let's get going. No time to waste!" He started jogging to the east and Natsu ran right there with him. Riku nodded to the rest of the group and then turned and gave chase, and Kirito nodded at one of his clones who nodded back and then ninja-jumped after the others and caught up fast.

The other groups looked at each other and there was a moment's hesitation. The six members of Straw Hat Luffy's crew did not want to separate from each other, not here, not again. They felt like they should have some sort of special goodbye, or for Luffy to tell them that they would all find each other after this, but the two Kirito clones started heading off and they called back for the others to get moving too.

Sanji reached down and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He tapped the bottom a few times and finally a cig came out, and it was the third to last one in the box. He lit the end of it and gave his captain a nod, "See you later Captain."

Robin gave the younger man a small wave and smiled at Nami after to show her friend it was alright. She started walking away with Usopp next to her. She wondered why the long-nosed pirate did not have a big goodbye with Luffy, but when she looked at him she saw him glaring out into the far distance. Robin followed the sniper's gaze out and she could still see the backs of the four who left before them. The Kirito leading them was heading southeast so they were not going the same exact direction, but for now Riku's back was still in eyesight, and Usopp was staring daggers into it.

The final group to go was Luffy's. He did not listen to the Kirito clone right away. Instead he looked out into the eastern horizon and watched the top of the red sun lift over the horizon line. In his mind flashed the sight of that dragon creating a sun above its body and he clenched his teeth hard. How much training would I need to stop a monster like that? It is not even the strongest thing on this world, but I… The pirate's hands balled into fists and he shook his head of such thoughts. Luffy started running forward but Nami yelled at him.

"This way idiot," Nami yelled and pointed to the northeast. Luffy turned and saw Kirito, Nami, and Franky all heading left. He mumbled in annoyance that he did not get to lead the way, but they were doing this for Ben so he bucked up and ran after her. Nami continued in an annoyed tone, "Let's get Ben's watch back and continue south as soon as possible."

"What's the big rush little sis?!" Franky called out.

Nami frowned and she did not say anything. The Shadow Clone with them understood though. Kirito muttered in a deep voice, "Outside of Dressrosa, Timmy flew south." The others looked at him in surprise while Nami just stared down at the floor and clenched her fists. "She thinks we have a better chance of finding him if we go south."

"I know we have a better chance," Nami snapped. She knew she was caught but she was not going to try and deny it. After what Usopp said about how Ansem came out because he thought Timmy was dead, she had felt a deep pit of dread inside her. She turned to look at Luffy as they kept walking, "Luffy please. You were there. You know what Wanda told me. She said I had to take care of him now. Please, we have to find him." Neither Kirito nor Franky knew what the woman was talking about but Luffy nodded his head at her like he understood.

"Alright," Luffy said. "After we find Ben's watch, we go after Timmy."

"Super!" Franky cheered, also in agreement with that plan.

"Sounds good," Kirito's clone added. "It'll be tough but I'm sure we'll find him."

---

"I can feel incredible magical energies up ahead," Natsu began to Ben and Riku as they ran together directly towards the rising suns. They had not stopped for a break once since leaving over an hour before, traveling dozens of miles in such a short amount of time.

"Do you want me to-" the Kirito clone following behind the three began.

"Not yet," Riku said. He glanced back at the clone as he took another leap off the ground and launched himself up through the air. "Make sure we actually need help before going off to get it."

Kirito nodded his head and he landed only to kick off the ground and jump forward like a ninja again. Natsu was sprinting forward at close to forty miles per hour, while Kirito kept up his ninja jumps to stay with him. Ben was lagging behind a little, but he ground his teeth and pressed his feet down hard with every step, digging in and keeping up his run. Ben was panting, and when Riku glanced back he slowed down, "Let's take a quick break," he suggested.

The others looked at him in surprise, but Riku continued, "We're almost there. Let's catch our breath before rushing in."

Kirito's shadow clone nodded at him and slowed to a jog, before coming to a complete stop altogether as Riku did. Natsu grumbled but he skid to a stop as well, lifting a bunch of black dust up with him. Ben kept running for a few more seconds until he caught up, then ran right past the other three before stopping as he heard them shout his name. He paused and kept looking to the east with a frustrated expression on his face. The boy panted heavily for a few seconds, before closing his mouth and breathing out his nose to mask his fatigue. "Ready?" He asked.

Riku looked at the kid's back closely. "You sure Ben?"

"I'm sure," Ben snapped right away.

"Natsu," Kirito's clone began. "How many of these strong magical powers are over there?" They were still on a black desert landscape, but Kirito motioned forwards towards a mountain range that they were heading towards. The area around them was getting hillier and he wondered if the enemies were in the mountains or even closer.

"I feel a few of them, but there could be more nearby," Natsu said. He started walking forward and glanced right at Ben as he got to his side. "You really ready?"

"Yes," Ben said, then started walking forward himself. Natsu nodded and walked with him, speeding up as Ben did so they were jogging together over the desert landscape. Riku and Kirito glanced at each other before jogging ahead themselves. They were getting closer and by the way Natsu's fists burst into flames, they could tell the enemies were about to be in sight.

They sprinted up a slanted section of black dirt and when they were only a few yards higher in elevation, they could see far enough away that the bases of the nearest mountains were in sight. Before those mountains though, there were several parked airships down on the edge of the black desert. Hundreds of soldiers stood around them, talking loudly and angrily to each other.

"We have to go after Lord Ajeel!"

"Where is the commander?"

"What do we do?"

Bakel, one of Ajeel's captains, marched through his troops towards a few women standing near one of their airships. Two of them turned towards him and stood in the way of him and the older woman with long scarlet braids falling in front and behind her. At the bottom of all four of her braids were black bows, though at the tops of the thick braids falling in front of her chest there were also golden ornaments holding them together. The man who marched towards her came to a stop in front of the two female guards who accompanied her. Bakel had a tattoo of an eye on the front of his exposed muscular chest, scars across the top and bottom of his lips that looked like sharp teeth pointing in the wrong directions, and a scarf that wrapped around his neck and up over his eyes and ears. The man grinned and looked past Juliet and Heine, right at the Shield of Spriggan behind them, "Lady Eileen. We are eager to go after Lord Ajeel. Please give us the order to hunt those fools he was fighting down."

Eileen Belserion turned her head and gazed at the muscular captain of the Ajeel Squad before her. Heine spoke up first, "You idiot. You really think you grunts will be able to stop fighters who took down three of the Spriggan?"

"Yeah," Juliet Sun agreed. The more bubbly girl with light orange pigtails pointed two fingers up at the side of her face. "Leave it to us! The Eileen squad is going to annihilate them! We might even get Lord Ajeel back for you, if you ask nicely," the girl said, narrowing her eyes at the figure in front of her.

Bakel frowned at the two shorter women but snapped his gaze up as the taller witch behind them started speaking. "Of course we will get Ajeel back. Lord Spriggan says that he is still alive after all." Eileen's words made Bakel grin wide and he thanked her before turning to go tell the rest of his army. Eileen's two subordinates glanced back at her wondering if she was serious with what she just told them. The two of them were with Eileen after all when she talked with Lord Spriggan the day before.

"It is good to see that Dimaria survived. Will you be returning to Vistarion?"

"Yes. However, Dimaria is not the only one to have survived. Wall Eehto is gone, but Ajeel still lives."

"Hmm, did the enemies capture him?"

"…You may want to reconsider hunting these enemies down. Natsu is not the only one you need to worry about with them. There is a man with them who trapped Ajeel inside the Darkness. Black Magic can not stand up to the Darkness. Be careful, Eileen."

Juliet and Heine tried to mask the worry on their faces, but Eileen could tell the two girls were nervous. "Do not worry," Eileen began. She lifted her gaze over the girls and stared out to the west, "I have a plan if things do go south. Now however, prepare yourselves. They are here."

Heine and Juliet spun around in shock. They were expecting to have to go hunting for their enemies, the idea that the fools would come looking for them seemed absurd. There they were though. Four figures running on the black hills to their west, sprinting their way haphazardly. The darker haired girl stepped forward first and she lifted her arms at her sides. Heine spoke softly, "I will go first."

"Wait a moment," Eileen commanded. Her subordinate stopped, and the two shorter girls looked back at the member of the Spriggan 12 behind them. Eileen rose up her right hand and said in a smug tone, "I wish to see what they can do for myself." Her hand started to glow and she shouted, "Enchant: Berserker!"

The four figures running towards the army slowed down as every single one of the soldiers turning their way suddenly froze. The army surrounded in white lights, and when the lights faded, the soldiers no longer looked like themselves. The armored men and women were all twice the size that they were a moment ago, their bodies larger and covered in bulking muscles, their teeth sharpened and their eyes glowing red. Kirito came to a complete stop while the others kept running, as he had a seriously bad feeling in his gut. "I'm going to disappear," he called to them. The clone vanished in a puff of smoke, and the two other Kiritos a few miles away to their north and south looked in towards the middle.

"Riku's group found the enemy," Kirito suddenly stated to the three pirates with him. Sanji, Robin, and Usopp all spun at the young man who turned from the direction they were heading and faced a mountain range instead. It was a lot farther forward than them as they were not the fastest group, and Kirito frowned at the long distance not just north but east too. "Come on!" He shouted and started running faster than before with his comrades chasing behind him.

The other Kirito clone let Luffy, Nami, and Franky know before running off to lead them to their comrades too. They were all heading to the same location, but the battle was starting without them.

Ben, Riku, and Natsu came face to face with an army of hundreds of Berserker soldiers. Juliet turned right to look at the leader with her, surprised that Eileen would enchant all the soldiers without first giving them the chance to prove themselves. Juliet looked back at the army, They are now ten times stronger than usual, but that increased strain comes at a price. She watched as the captain of the forces, Bakel, marched through his soldiers' ranks, three times taller than the rest of the men with him. He brought his fists up to his sides and snapped his head forward with razor sharp teeth, "RAAAARRRR!"

"What the Hell?" Ben muttered as he came to a complete stop in front of the soldiers.

"Attack!" Eileen shouted. The three boys who ran towards their group looked behind all these soldiers and Natsu gulped at the sight of her. She looked familiar for some reason, but her magical power was like nothing he had ever felt before. It was easily double any of the huge magical powers of the Spriggans from the day before, more likely close to triple or even more. He ground his teeth after gulping though and his fists burst even brighter into flames. Ben stared at the army full of monsters in front of him though and his eyes were darting around in panic at all of them.

Can I really fight all of these guys without my watch? The Omnitrix has always been there. Even when I didn't use it, I always had it there just in case. "It will be alright," Riku said. Ben looked up at the silver haired teen on his left and Riku took a step forward in front of his two comrades. The army started racing towards them, and Riku spoke in a deep voice, "I have gained full control over the darkness inside. I am now even stronger than Ansem. As such, I can use all of his powers, and more." Riku lifted up both of his arms and the ground between them and the incoming army descended into darkness.

The three women standing behind the army opened their eyes wide at the sight of the black dirt dropping into an even blacker color. The ground lost its solid form and looked like a more liquid substance that swirled around and gave off a very dark feeling. That dark feeling only intensified as out from the square mile of darkness between their groups, hundreds of black creatures started rising out of the ground. The Berserker soldiers did not stop at the sight of the creepy Heartless monsters though. The Shadows, Large Bodies, and Invisibles raced forwards and intercepted Ajeel's remaining forces, slamming into the monstrous soldiers who swung swords back at them or used magic of their own.

Most of Zeref's soldiers and the Heartless looked evenly matched, but one man in the center of the army charged forward and slammed his fists straight through two Invisibles swinging their dark swords at him. The powerful Heartless exploded into dark bubbles, and Riku took a step forward while creating a Keyblade in his hand. "I've got this," a voice said on his right, and before he could charge at the enemy to attack with his Keyblade, Natsu shot by him in a blur of red flames. The Dragon Slayer brought back his fist at the same time as Bakel, and they roared at each other while colliding their fists.

A shockwave rippled out from the collision of their hands, and the ground beneath the dark coating Riku covered the ground in shattered. Chunks of rocks flew out of the darkness and some of Riku's dark ooze got pushed out to the sides by the bright light coming out of Natsu's body. Riku looked back for a second at Ben who had a more confident expression on his face after seeing his friends' powers stop the army of monstrous soldiers. The kid grinned at Riku, making the older boy nod before turning back around and racing into his army of Heartless soldiers.

Ben Tennyson clenched his fists and he ran straight ahead into the darkness too. He was not afraid though. This was Riku's darkness after all, something he had long since accepted as a part of his best friend.

"Here they come," Heine said, stepping forward herself. The black haired girl with a white bandanna around her forehead glanced to her side at Juliet. "Why don't we see who can kill more of the enemy?"

"Ooh! I love that game!" Juliet exclaimed excitedly.

"Sorry girls," Eileen said, stopping the two of her squad who were about to charge into battle with the others. Eileen was looking past them as they turned back to face her, watching as Natsu Dragneel faced off against a powered-up Bakel, and the short boy in the back was fighting Ajeel's other soldiers with the help of the Heartless. Her main focus was on the figure who summoned the army of Heartless though, and was smashing soldiers to the sides with every hit, not slowing down his charge towards her at all as he did. Eileen walked forward herself while continuing, "There are four enemies approaching fast from the northwest. Go head them off and stop them from assisting their comrades."

Heine and Juliet looked at each other and nodded. The two turned away and sprinted behind an airship near them, then kept running past the other side to the north around the edge of the closest mountain. Riku spotted them running off but he did not give chase, as he was now able to feel the immense power coming off the dangerous red haired woman in front of him as well. He lifted up his left hand and a Keyblade like the one in his right formed, only this one was a lighter color with blue markings on the end of it.

"Lord Zeref warned me about you," Eileen began. Riku narrowed his green eyes at her, and the woman lifted up the staff in her right hand. "I am Eileen Belserion."

"Riku," he introduced back to her. "Where is your boss?" He demanded, lifting up his Keyblades and standing in a stance with them. "He took something that belongs to my friend."

Eileen glanced behind Riku and saw that younger boy continuing to push through their forces to get to her as well. She smirked and looked back at Riku, "If Zeref decides to return, he will. For now though, I will be your opponent. Let me see the power of your darkness."

Riku glared harder at the woman and he took a step forward. As he did though, Eileen rose up her glowing hand and Riku came to a sudden stop as he saw the mountain directly behind Eileen, about a mile away, cover in the same white glow. He stared in shock as Eileen lifted her hand up, and the ground for miles around started to tremble. The mountain tore straight out of the ground, before shooting up in the sky like a rocket and soaring up in the clouds. As Riku looked up at the clouds, he also noticed that the clouds were getting darker and swirling around the sky directly above Eileen, leaving a hole in the middle of the swirling area that the mountain shot straight through.

"What are you doing?!" Riku yelled over at her.

Eileen smirked down at the young man in front of her. "I would enchant an asteroid in space to come crashing down on you, but unfortunately the barrier in the atmosphere keeps me from doing so. Instead," Riku looked back up in the air as he spotted something coming, and his eyes opened huge as did his nine friends in the miles nearby him. "I will use a mountain for the same purpose!" Eileen shouted, and Riku stared in shock at the mountain covered in a white aura as it dropped out of the sky like a meteor. It moved so fast the clouds it fell back through were pulled down with it and ripped apart.

Natsu flipped off a kick to Bakel's face and he skid across the black floor in between several of Riku's dark army. He was panting and he growled at the sight of Bakel turning back towards him with a crazed smile on his face and no sign of pain from the kick that just hit him in the face. "Alright," Natsu snarled. "You're pretty strong, I'll give you that." His body shone yellow for a second and bolts of lightning started zapping out of his red aura. He grinned and lifted up his fists as he prepared to finish this fight, but as he lifted his mouth into a smile, he spotted something in the top of his vision that had him dropping his jaw and looking straight up in the air in shock.

"Oh my God," Nami whispered from three miles away in the north and still a couple miles west of Natsu and the others. She came to a stop and lifted her hands to cover her mouth with a face covered in sweat. Franky dropped his metal jaw and his arms fell limp at his sides, while Luffy just snarled and ground his teeth at the sight of the mountain meteor falling from the sky. They had seen it go up and were pretty shocked, but the sight of it coming down was much worse.

"What are we going to do?" Franky asked, looking to Luffy who was still staring furiously at the mountain.

"We keep going," Luffy said. "I'll stop the mountain," he added. Nami, Franky, and Kirito's shadow clone looked at the captain and watched as he punched his right fist out to the side. His skin pumped and turned red, steam emitting from his body. He shot off without another word into the distance, and he bit down on his right thumb as he did. His fist turned huge and he let it fly behind him, turning it black as he did. Jet Elephant Gun should be able to stop it, but- he realized it when he was still two miles out. I'm not going to make it in time!

Back directly beneath the mountain, Eileen was smirking at the man in front of her. "Can your darkness stop this?" She questioned, a smug look on her face as Riku still seemed shocked by the falling mountain.

Riku glared back down at her, then darted his gaze up to the mountain again. His shocked look faded and he clenched his hands tight on his Keyblades' hilts, his arm muscles bulging as he did. "My darkness?" He questioned, making Eileen's smirk fade fast. Riku's feet lifted off the ground and he flew up in the air as fast as the mountain was descending. He crossed his Keyblades above his head and roared, "I don't need the darkness, for something like this!" He slashed his Keyblades as he hit the falling mountain, and hundreds of people, including the Berserker soldiers who lost most sense of themselves, stared in shock at the four quarters of mountain falling out of the sky. He split it perfectly in half both ways, making four giant pieces of rock that kept falling out of the sky, but were easier to avoid, and falling slower towards the ground now.

One of the giant chunks was falling right towards the two armies still battling it out, and many of the soldiers sent into ravenous states roared in fury and fear at the sight of their approaching death. Bakel was not one of those shouting however, instead charging straight at Natsu with his right fist pulled back far. He twisted his body and then let his fist fly down at Natsu with a loud roar. Natsu was still zapping lightning and covered in a flaming aura, and he turned his head back to Bakel much faster than he had been moving previously. He moved his head to the right and Bakel's fist went past it to the left. A powerful force of air coming off the sides of Bakel's fist slammed into Natsu's face, but he pushed straight through without flinching and slammed a fist up into the bottom of the larger man's chin.

Bakel got sent flying up into the air by the uppercut, but he opened up his clenched eyes and glared down at the pink haired mage far below him. He did not feel pain in his Berserker state thanks to Eileen's enchant, and he roared down at the man who sent him flying. Natsu was not done though, and he lifted up his head and shouted, "Lightning Fire Dragon's Roar!" A pillar of flames surrounded in swirling bolts of lightning shot up into the sky fifty meters in diameter. It slammed directly into Bakel's chest, and sent the captain of the Ajeel Squad crashing straight into the bottom of the giant piece of mountain falling towards them. Bakel and the Roar's collision with the mountain sent cracks through the entire rock chunk, making it shatter violently into hundreds of pieces that flew out in every direction. One piece flew out so fast to the right that it slammed into another of the four main chunks and split that piece in two.

Giant chunks of rock fell all over the landscape, and Luffy came running in as the first pieces were falling. He shouted, "Jet Elephant Gun!" and sent his giant black fist slamming down into a cluster of Heartless and enemy soldiers as there was no point in wasting the attack he already prepared. Natsu saw Luffy arrive, but he just tssked and ignored the rubberman, turning instead to other enemies near him and sprinting towards them still in his Lightning Fire Dragon mode.

Eileen looked up in the air and kept a straight expression as she spotted the silver haired nineteen year old dropping from the sky with his Keyblades held back at his sides. He had a dark-bordered white aura around his body and dropped faster than all the rocks around him, directly towards her. She lifted up her staff and it glowed white, her lips curling up into a smirk as she prepared for his first attack.

Ben finally got through the ranks of soldiers he was fighting and he spotted the red haired woman looking up in the air at a dropping Riku. The two Neo-Shadows on Ben's sides ran off to continue fighting the soldiers Riku summoned them to attack, but the boy himself glared at this woman who would likely know where Zeref was. And where he's keeping the Omnitrix, Ben thought, his fists clenching harder. He took a step forward, but something on the dark floor in front of him moved. At first he thought it was just another Heartless, but as the form came out of the darkness his eyes started widening more, his arms started trembling, his face covered in sweat, and he took two steps back.

"Wh-Who are you?" Ben asked.

The demonic figure that just came out of the ground had a dark yellow mask over his pure black face. His body was covered in a black and red tunic, with dark metal spaulders, and he had a long black cape all the way down to his feet with a hood that went over the top of his head. "Bloodman," the figure growled in a deep voice. "Of the Spriggan 12," he continued, while lifting up his steel-covered arms. Between the cracks in his armor, Ben could only see pure blackness as dark as the floor. "Tenchi Kaimei," Bloodman growled. The ground beneath the two of them started to get covered in black, but it was a black substance even more liquidy than Riku's darkness. It rose up and Ben snapped his eyes down to see his legs were getting covered in the black water, and as soon as it touched his body he felt his legs fill with pain and lose their strength.

"What, the Hell-" Ben tried stepping forward, but his legs came out from beneath him as the water got even higher up his body. Rocks fell from the sky and landed on the ground around them making a perfect circle of debris around the two. Ben dropped down to his hands and knees as the dark water came up over his stomach, and now it covered all of him except for his face that he pushed over the top of the black fluid substance. "Stop!" He shouted in a begging voice.

"You are so weak," Bloodman said, sounding disappointed in his opponent. "Yet, I still enjoy that look on your face." Ben looked up in horror at the smirking face behind the mask of his opponent.

Stay awake! He yelled in his mind as the black water came over the bottom of his face and he felt his eyelids drooping. What the Hell is this stuff? It doesn't matter! Just get out of it, already, even his thoughts were slowing down, and he did not know what he could do. Ben slid his hands towards each other under the water, and he mouthed the words even though no sound came out. Bloodman stood beneath the rising black carbonic water that poisons his enemies, and he narrowed his eyes at the boy's face as the kid with closed eyes said something. Bubbles came out of his mouth, and then the area beneath his hands started to glow blue.

"HAAA!" Ben yelled under the water, his eyes snapping open and blue light shooting out of his hands. The Kamehameha Wave smashed through the ground and blasted the poisonous water out in every direction. Bloodman rose his arms and blocked the wind that slammed into him from the force of the boy's attack. Ben shot straight up in the air, blasting out of the top of the black water, and slamming straight into a giant rock falling from the sky towards him. "Ahh!" He yelled out and lost the blue beam coming out of his hands, letting it fade away as he spun around in the air in pain.

Ben crashed back down to the ground, but Bloodman's attack had dispersed as well. The monster standing ten yards away from Ben lowered his crossed arms from in front of his face as Ben lifted his own face from the floor. The kid looked at the enemy in front of him and went wide-eyed at the sight of the huge smirk behind the man's mask. "What do you want?" Ben asked, pushing down on his hands and getting back up to his feet. He glared at the enemy and added in a loud yell, "Also, if you're one of those Spriggan guys, then you know where Zeref-" Bloodman waved his right hand across the front of his body while Ben was mid-sentence.

The ground beneath Ben lit up and the boy only had a second to dart his eyes down before it exploded. He screamed and crossed his arms in front of his body, trying to put up a guard. The explosion was too powerful though, ripping through his clothes and burning his skin as he roared. He regained a sense of himself while still in the explosion and tried flying backwards. As he flew back however, a figure came flying right through the explosion and swiped his arms as he passed by Ben. Ben slammed his arms back at the man, trying to block his arms with his own. Bloodman's arms did not look the way they normally did though, and Ben only noticed it as the man's arms hit his own. They were as sharp as razors, and Ben felt his arms get slashed through straight to the bone.

Blood splashed out of Ben's arms and he screamed again as he spun out in the air and came crashing down in the field of darkness below. The darkness had climbed up over giant chunks of rocks that fell all over the landscape, so now there was a giant bumpy area of blackness covering miles of ground. Ben groaned on his back in the middle of this darkness and he opened up his eyes to stare straight up in the sky. As he looked up, his jaw dropped at the sight of something massive appearing directly beneath the black clouds all over the sky. It looked like a giant closed eye, but once he looked up at it, it opened up into a two hundred meter long eyeball with a red cross in the middle of its iris.

Ben heard a deep chuckling in front of him and he leaned up on his back a little. He looked forward and saw the dark figure coming out of the ground, his body made of black dust particles that formed into a body before him. "What, are you?" Ben asked, pushing his hands down on the ground and clenching his teeth in pain. He glanced at his arms and saw blood pouring down both of them from right below his elbows on his forearms where he got slashed, all the way down to his fingers where the red liquid dripped off. He attempted to ignore the pain, but he could not keep it off of his face and his enemy reacted in a very pleased way to his pained expression.

"What am I?" Bloodman questioned as he walked towards Ben. Heartless creatures in the area charged at him, but the dark figure swiped his arms in their direction and dozens of them exploded at the same time. "I am a demon. Known as the 'Grim Reaper' by my enemies, I possess all the curses of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros." He lifted his right hand up and the ground beneath Ben trembled. The boy on his hands and knees pushed up hard and barrel-rolled to the right at the same time. It was just in time too, as long vines covered in thorns shot out of the dark floor where Ben was just lying. The whips of thorns curved in midair though and slammed down towards a rolling away Ben.

"Raa!" Ben pushed up on the floor and leapt into the air. He surrounded himself with a white aura, but it was faint and he lost it after flying for only a few seconds. He avoided the thorns long enough though to rise into the sky away from Bloodman's reach. He glared down at his enemy and was panting loudly with blood dripping down his arms and burns all over his body. His shirt was gone and his face was partially black from the explosions that hit him before. How do I fight him? He's so strong, I haven't landed a single hit! I need, I need help!

"Are you afraid?" Bloodman asked, his voice sinister, evil. Ben shivered and he breathed out only to see his breath float in the air. He darted his eyes down to his legs and watched as his feet, legs, and lower body covered in pink ice in the matter of a second.

Ben panicked. He flew up higher, but the ice was not stopping encroaching. "NO!" He roared, and he flared his aura out as hard as he could, heating up his entire body with his energy. The pink ice stopped moving up, and then finally shattered all at once. As it shattered though, Ben's aura vanished and he started falling out of the air. Not enough strength to fly anymore, he realized, and he turned his gaze to Bloodman who he was descending fast towards. In that case, it's time to go all out! He put his hands together at his right side and a white light shimmered there. A green hilt appeared in his hand and a long silver hilt shot out of it with prongs sticking out of the side at the end. "HaaaAAA!"

Riku meanwhile, stood in front of Eileen, staring up at the giant eye she made appear in the air. "At the moment," she began to him. "My subordinates are finishing off your friends in the north. The others I have just spotted approaching from the south will not arrive in time to stop me from killing you."

The north? Riku thought. Luffy should be there. There's no way those two she was with can take him- "Gum Gum Jet Gattling Gun!" Riku's eyes widened and he snapped his head left, looking back behind him and seeing flames and rubber fists both attacking the army in the field behind him. What's Luffy doing here?! Are Nami and Franky really under attack? Nami… Riku's expression darkened and his eyes darted back to Eileen who saw something in them that made her hesitate.

A few miles south and still pretty far west, Kirito's eyes opened wide. He snapped his head a different direction than he was previously heading and the three pirates with him all looked at him confusedly. "What is it?" Usopp asked the teen.

"My other clone was just destroyed," Kirito said in a panicked voice. "Luffy went ahead to fight with the others, so Nami and Franky are fighting some powerful enemies on their own."

"Where?!" Sanji shouted in panic.

"Follow me!" Kirito shouted and started sprinting forward much faster than before. The fact that they were already rushing yet Kirito could put on this burst of speed definitely made them feel a sense of urgency. Sanji leapt up in the air and started kicking it to send himself flying forward, while Robin leapt up as well and crossed her arms, creating wings out of other arms that sprouted out of her back. Usopp watched as his friends shot off much faster than him and he dug his feet down, grinding his teeth and picking up the pace as well.

In the north, Franky tugged his right arm back, but Heine tugged towards herself at the same time. The black haired girl with a long thread-like magical band wrapped around Franky's right red wrist lifted the cyborg off the ground and swung him up in the air and then behind her. Heine slammed the robot down into the ground and the floor cracked all around his body, chunks lifting up in the air from the smash.

"Franky!" Nami yelled. She ran forward and four other Nami's around her did the same. She suddenly came to a stop though when she was still twenty yards away from her cyborg friend. Nami snapped her gaze down to the ground and saw her feet were stuck in some sort of goo coating the floor. She pulled at her leg trying to stand up, but the goo was too sticky and she was trapped in it, making her Mirages disappear from around her.

"Hehe! Got one too!" Nami snapped her gaze up and saw the girl with orange pigtails jogging towards her. The navigator opened her eyes in fright as the girl leapt twenty feet towards her, and she rose up her Clima Tact to try and block the kick Juliet Sun swung at her. She rose her blue staff, and the kick slammed into it. She held the staff there for less than a full second, before a loud Crack sounded and Nami dropped her jaw as the middle section of her three part Clima Tact snapped in half. The kick kept going, barely slowed by her weather rod at all, and it slammed into Nami's side where more cracks were heard.

The woman with bigger breasts and longer orange hair screamed out in agony as the kick was so strong it ripped her from the goo holding her to the ground and sent her flying. Juliet landed down on the ground and the goo beneath her feet disappeared. She lifted up her hands and goo started dripping from her hands, "How do you like it?" Juliet called out to Nami's writhing form on the floor. "My mucus magic?"

"Nami!" Franky called out as he got back up to his feet. He looked past both of the small women who were attacking them and at the navigator lying on her stomach and grabbing at her left side. "Alright," the cyborg growled, glaring at the woman in front of him first. "I don't like this, but I won't let you hurt Nami-sis anymore!" He put his hands together in front of his body making only a small space in between his hands. "Franky, RADICAL BEAM!" A white light glowed from the inside of the gap in his hands, then shot forward so fast that Heine only had a millisecond to go wide-eyed before the beam of light slammed into the front of her body.

Juliet turned slowly with a dropped jaw at the sight of the huge white explosion where her partner was just standing. The white explosion faded and Heine lay there on the floor covered in burns and not moving. Franky saw the girl with lighter hair staring in shock at her partner and he called over, "Sorry 'bout that little lady! But you have to get out of here or I'm-" Franky stopped talking as the girl lifted up her gaze and glared at him rabidly. "Alright, guess not," he said, and got ready to attack the second girl. As he rose back up his arms though, he noticed something dripping off the sides of them. He darted his eyes to his arms and dropped his jaw at the sight of steam coming off his arms. He tried wiping the gooey substance off his arms, but as he wiped some off he saw the corroded metal beneath it.

What the Hell is this stuff? He thought, wiping more of it off as it seemed to appear out of nowhere. Juliet was just walking towards Franky and glaring furiously at him as his body covered fully in mucus. The cyborg felt his back, the only part of his body where he actually had skin, covering in the burning goo as well. He reached back and tried wiping it off, but it was burning through his skin already and he let out a pained scream. He narrowed his eyes forward as his face started melting and he lifted his arms back in front of his body. "I warned you!" He yelled, pulling back his right hand as he did. He punched it forward and yelled, "Strong Right!" His fist shot out of his body connected by a chain and Juliet widened her eyes at the sight of it flying towards her. She jumped to her right and the fist flew right past her though, and the girl smirked as she grabbed it by the chain. Franky dropped his jaw again as the girl grabbed his chain arm, then tugged towards herself so hard that he was lifted off the ground and tossed towards her.

Juliet sprinted forward and she stuck out her right elbow, grabbing her wrist with her other hand to steady her arm as she planted it right in Franky's gut. He smirked thinking that she was going to break her arm on his body, but the girl just winced and snapped her gaze up angrily at the cyborg who brought his left arm up to make a fist above her head. He slammed his left arm down while his right arm came retracting back to him, and he missed his left punch as Juliet did a backflip off the ground. His fist hit the floor and black dirt shot up around his arm, right as his right arm clicked back into place. He stood up fully and grabbed his left arm with his right hand, pointing it at the girl coming down and yelling, "Weapons Left!" His arm opened up and machine gun fire shot out at the girl who swerved back and forth dodging all the attacks. What she could not dodge though, was the rocket that shot out of the largest hole in Franky's arm though, blowing up on the floor right below her and sending her flying up in the air.

Juliet snarled and glared down at the cyborg, but Franky was smirking and looking over her head. The enemy snapped her head up in the air, and dropped her jaw at the sight of the black clouds gathering above her. She turned in midair and as she was able to see the other pirate behind her again, she saw Nami swing one of the two not-broken pieces of her weapon and yell, "Weather Egg!" An egg shot out of the small blue rod and up into the black clouds where it cracked and opened up. Juliet was coming back down slowly, covered in burns, and she opened her mouth to yell, but no sound came out as a dozen bolts of lightning rained down on her body and slammed her down into the ground.

The two pirates watched the girl hit the floor and seize around for a moment before they lifted their gazes back to each other and grinned. "That was Super teamwork!" Franky called out as he walked towards Nami. He passed Juliet's body and stuck a thumb up at Nami, though it did not look red anymore as most of the paint he put on had been corroded off. "Let's get going to-" the cyborg stopped as Nami's eyes popped open wide. He started to turn, but barely got halfway when the kick flying at him collided with his already burnt back. Franky heard a crack in his spine and he roared out in agony, right before he was lifted off the ground and sent flying straight at Nami.

She ducked just in time not to get slammed by the heavy robot with a lot of momentum behind him. "Franky!" She screamed and turned to see the cyborg flying off and bouncing on the ground with blood splashing out of his mouth every time he hit. She felt the ground vibrate and spun back around while lifting up the pieces of her Clima Tact that still worked, but she was much too slow to stop Juliet who was already within five feet of her. Juliet crouched and snapped her arm up as she dove at Nami, tackling the older woman off the ground by grabbing her by the throat. Juliet came down and slammed Nami's neck down hard, smashing the woman's head into the floor and making Nami try to scream.

Juliet clenched down on Nami's neck though, and no scream came out. She brought her other arm in and gripped Nami with both hands around the throat. Nami's mouth was open and she dropped her Clima Tact, reaching up with her arms instead and grabbing Juliet by the wrists in a feeble attempt to get the strong girl off of her. Juliet looked nuts though, her entire face and body burnt, her mouth twisted into a deranged smile. She was laughing and she clenched harder on Nami's throat and made the pirate woman's face go blue. Nami's eyes were getting red and she could not get a single breath out of her crushing windpipe. Luffy! Franky! Someone! I'm going to, die! Tears came out of her red eyes and she could hear explosions in the distance where her friends were fighting, but no one was even close to her.

Kirito had a horrible feeling deep in his gut, and he and Sanji spotted a figure on the ground far in front of them. She was still over a half mile away, but both of them could see the position the figures fighting were in. Nami was on the ground, hands were around her neck, and the woman was not moving. Sanji's face took on an enraged expression, but he spotted who was strangling Nami and his sudden urge to shoot over there and kick the figure off became a conflicted one where he had no idea what to do. "Nami-san!" He shouted, racing faster towards them as he figured he could at least grab Nami and get her out from beneath the other woman who he would not be able to hit.

The teenager with Sanji realized the problem Sanji had and tssked as he knew he should have realized it right when his shadow clone disappeared. "She's going to kill her!" Kirito yelled at the man above him who was a little faster and shooting off ahead of him now. "Stop her!" Kirito yelled.

Sanji was still over a quarter mile away, but Nami was not moving under the other girl's hands. His heart was racing. Nami-san. Nami-san! His face covered in sweat and he picked up the pace to go as fast as he could- Sanji came to a stop in midair. He almost fell out of the sky, and Kirito skid to a stop back behind him. The two of them stared with dropped jaws at Nami, because the woman strangling her was no longer on top of her. Juliet was flying to the left of Nami's body, a ball of black slamming straight into her side. The girl hit the ground and tumbled over and over before flipping onto her feet and skidding back across the black ground.

"Who dares-" she began, and then dropped her jaw just like Sanji and Kirito as she saw it. It descended from the sky, flapping its huge purple wings with white curves on the edges of them. The creature's wingspan was twenty feet wide, and it was over fifteen feet tall. It came out of the air right above Nami and turned its white and purple head in the direction it just sent Juliet flying. The creature had a round head with glowing red eyes on it and a small mouth curved up in a smile, with what looked like a curved protective crown over its head.

Nami opened up her eyes slowly as she lay on her back. Her vision was red and blurry, her breath coming out in short raspy bursts. She saw the creature above her and heard Juliet scream at it from the left of her motionless body. "Lunala?!" Juliet screamed. "What the Hell- why would-" the girl shook her head furiously and snapped her eyes back open in fury to start charging at the Legendary Pokemon and the girl it was protecting. "I don't care!" She screamed, and she jumped up towards Nami again with her leg lifted, "Get in my way, and I'll destroy you too!" She shouted at the Pokemon, daring it to get between her and Nami.

Lunala opened its small mouth and a white light glowed from inside it. Juliet's eyes widened while Kirito and Sanji started racing forward to save Nami again. All four of them dropped their jaws as the beam of white light shot out of Lunala's mouth. The Hyper Beam crashed into Juliet and she screamed as the beam carried her back into the distance and then out of sight in the horizon all in a few seconds. Kirito and Sanji kept heading towards Nami this time, not risking leaving her next to this powerful monster without any protection, even if it did just save her life.

"Nami-san!" Sanji shouted as he reached the woman. He got down on his knees next to her and looked at her red throat to see if she was badly hurt.

Nami ignored him for a second though and just sat up on her own, wincing at the feeling of her cracked left ribs. She looked up at the Pokemon above her as it gazed down with its red eyes. "Thank, you," Nami said slowly and in a hoarse voice. The beast nodded its head at her right as Kirito was showing up. Sanji helped Nami up to her feet and she used him as a crutch, him putting her arm above his shoulders and behind his neck. They all looked up at the creature and Nami questioned, "Why, did you, help me?" Her breath was still ragged but she needed to know.

The creature nodded its head down at the three, then looked up and flew into the sky. The black clouds that Eileen created extended this far away from the main battle, so Lunala looked to be about to disappear into them. Before it did however, the three humans down below spotted something else flying up there next to Lunala. It flew over and Lunala stopped in front of it. It was a small pink creature with a long thin tail and a cute face, and it did a few flips in the air and flew around Lunala happily a couple of times.

Sanji, Nami, and Kirito all stared in shock at the creature. They gawked at it because they all recognized the creature. The pink Pokemon waved a hand at Lunala as it flew up into the clouds, then it looked down at the figures down below it. "Mew," Kirito whispered. "Then, does that mean," he looked down and scanned the landscape in every direction of him. "Is Sora-"

"Hey wait!" Sanji called up. Kirito looked back in the air but the pink creature was gone. Sanji lowered the arm he raised and sighed as the Pokemon flew into the clouds and vanished. "Guess we have another thing to thank Sora for."

"Yeah," Nami whispered, still staring up in the sky. Did Mew get another Pokemon to help me out? Or… Nami felt the ground beneath her start shaking and she lost her train of thought. The three of them turned, and a cyborg groaning on his back a half mile away lifted his head up. Franky stopped moaning and he became eerily quiet as did the entire landscape.

Luffy and Natsu stopped battling the small army of Berserkers who remained on the battlefield and they looked towards the source of the shaking at the same time. They stared over and saw Riku panting several yards away from Eileen, whose black witch's attire was ripped on the side of her chest and her black hat was gone. She was not panting, but she was looking at Riku hesitantly as the boy suddenly surrounded in a white glowing light. Riku's aura was not what made the entire landscape shake however.

"My army is defeated, and you are still holding back," Eileen stated as she rose up her staff. Her wooden staff covered in white light and she continued, "Emperor Spriggan was correct. I will retreat for now."

"I won't let you," Riku growled. His body was surrounded in a black coating and his white aura glowed even brighter. His green eyes glowed and he pointed both of his Keyblades at Eileen. "Not until you tell us where Zeref is. Where he took Ben's Omnitrix." Out the tips of his Keyblades formed spheres of black that combined when they got too big. There was a dark orange core in the center of them, but Riku started looking around as the landscape in every direction was shaking. What is this? He thought, before focusing back on Eileen and making his attack even bigger so that all the debris around them started getting dragged into the darkness.

"You can not stop this magic," Eileen boasted. She rose up her staff higher and everything around them started glowing white. The black ground Natsu and Luffy were running across glowed, the mountains, the fields, the sky itself. Mew and Lunala stopped flying as everything around them glowed. Nami yelled out in panic as everything around her started to glow. Back with Eileen and Riku, the woman with long red hair laughed at Riku's expression as he looked around confusedly at everything. "World Reconstruction Magic," she called out. "It is a new form of magic that I created myself, one that I have never used before!" She slammed her staff down on the ground and the glowing landscape got even brighter so no one could see a thing. "Rearranging the entire region, thousands of miles, and everyone in it!"

Riku could hear her voice getting fainter, but louder than ever he heard her finish, "Universe One!" The sky flashed white and everyone for thousands of miles had to clench their eyes shut or squint from the brightness. The white light faded, and Riku stopped squinting to look ahead at his enemy. Eileen was not there though. Eileen was not the only thing missing though, as he was no longer able to hear the roars of Berserkers behind him, or see the mountain range that should have been behind Eileen. He slowly did a full three-sixty degree turn where he was standing, and his jaw could not have dropped lower as his aura completely vanished from around him. To his left a few hundred miles, he spotted some blurry mountains that he recognized as the same ones that were a mile in front of him only a moment before. He looked down and the ground was no longer black, but gray. He looked back up and continued to turn around to look at everything different around him. The suns in the sky were no longer still in the east, but more directly above his head now. Did I move east? How far? The suns also look much farther north, so did I get sent south? What the Hell?

The teenager with silver hair oriented himself first, before focusing on the imminent dangers. He did so because the imminent dangers were just as confused as he was. After looking at the ground and the suns though, he had to focus on the beings closest to him. Damn Eileen, he thought, as he figured the woman who rearranged the region decided to mess with him. In every direction around him, for miles, there were monsters covering the landscape. Grimm, Aragami, Menos, zombies, giant wolves and bears, he spotted dragons flying above, and massive worms dragging trenches through the ground two miles to his right. The monsters started turning on each other as they were all put in the same vicinity, and within ten seconds of the Universe One's creation, the gray field Riku appeared on was covered in chaos. Evil-looking monsters were not the only ones to form, as there were some Pokemon battling Grimm, and a few flying monsters taking on some hundred-foot tall Hollows that emerged near him.

The monsters closest to Riku were not fighting each other like many on the field were. Instead, they all focused on one single figure. Riku spotted them all coming towards him at the same time, and he ground his teeth while clenching his Keyblades tight with both hands. I used too much darkness again. I only have enough for one, maybe two portals. I need to find the others before I do anything risky.

As Riku faced off against a horde of monsters, his friends were scattered all over the place. None of them had any idea as to what just happened though. Natsu stood in the middle of an empty forest, looking around in total confusion as he had no idea as to where he was. He started sprinting forward to try and get a better look of the place, but screamed as when he ran past a few trees, he almost fell into a giant ravine that split the forest out of nowhere. On the other side of the ravine he could see more trees, but right past them were three mountains that looked way out of place. Up the side of one of those mountains were a bunch of buildings squished together and some people outside them shouting in panic.

Luffy scratched the side of his head as he was standing on black ground like what he was previously on, but none of his enemies or allies were around him anymore. He looked in every direction around him and he felt a deep pit of dread in his stomach. "Sanji?! Nami?! Franky?! Usopp?! Robin?!" He shouted for his crew who should have been close by, who should have been right behind him. None of them were there though. They were all, gone.

A few hundred miles to the east, Ichigo Kurosaki lowered his arms from in front of his face. He dropped his jaw as Remano was no longer in front of him. The capital of the Leam empire was gone, all except for one building on his right side that people started flooding out of and screaming. He looked ahead of him and saw a horde of zombies with glowing yellow hearts that showed through their skin turning his way. He spun and shouted at the people behind him to get back in the building, then turned towards the Kabane that started sprinting towards him.

Back in the west, and a few hundred miles north, Kirito spotted something moving thirty meters away from him and he started running towards it. He sighed a breath of relief as a figure sat up in the tall grass, a metal figure covered in burns and not looking so good. Franky was alive though, and he was in the vicinity, unlike the other two Kirito was just standing with.

Sanji stood on the edge of a field with his back to a small forest of about a dozen trees. He had not moved a muscle since reappearing in this strange place, and neither did the orange haired woman he was helping stand. The two of them were just staring forward completely silent, trying not to make a sound as there was a Tyrannosaurus-Rex directly in front of them… getting devoured by much scarier monsters that looked like giant lions with lightning sparking off of their heads. The powerful Aragami known as Vajra were tearing the dinosaur apart like it was made of paper, and the giant beast roared in agony before dying as one of the Vajra chomped straight through its neck.

Nami let out a small yelp at the sight of the huge amount of blood splashing out of the dinosaur's mouth, and instantly a half dozen scary monsters turned towards her and Sanji. The two of them went blue in the face, as the monsters directly in front of them were only the tip of the iceberg. They were not moving because behind those monsters were hundreds, maybe thousands of other scary monsters tearing each other to shreds on the gray field. Flames tore across the landscape as a squad of dragons made a bombing run, and they watched as two Grimm Nevermores dropped out of the sky and took out half of the dragons in seconds. An Alpha Dragon marched across the field though and it did not look happy about what the Grimm did, opening its mouth and releasing a beam of purple light so wide that it tore through the Nevermores and slammed into a hill that a giant worm just dug through with a mouth full of spinning sharp teeth.

The hill exploded in every direction, then through the explosion came hundreds of Aragami that looked like eyeballs with wings. They flew over monsters called Gohma whose bodies were lined with glowing red veins, and swerved in between fifteen meter tall Titans that were starting to head in the direction of the forest Nami and Sanji were in front of. The blond-haired man took a step back, and as he did, the Vajra in front of him started to charge. "Move!" Someone shouted behind them. The two looked back into the forest to see a familiar muscular man with long curly hair pointing a slingshot at them. The slingshot stopped shaking right as Usopp released the pulled-back elastic part, and a Pop Green flew right in between Sanji and Nami's heads, hitting the ground between them and the Vajra and making bamboo shoots come flying out of the ground and putting a wall in between them and the monsters.

The Aragami were strong though, and they started tearing through the bamboo thicket like it was nothing. Sanji was not going to wait for them to get through though, and he turned and started running through the forest, picking up Nami bridal style as he did since her ribs were cracked and she could not run on her own. "Come on come on!" Usopp shouted and then turned and ran with them as they reached him. They ran through the small forest and came out on a field that was split directly down the middle unnaturally. On one side was green grass ten feet tall, and on the other were black rocks separated by lava trails. Only a mile past these two areas the ground dropped off into a massive ravine, and on the other side was half of a mountain.

"What the Hell happened?!" Usopp screamed. He looked at the other two but neither Sanji nor Nami had an answer for him.

"Roooaaarrr!" They heard the roars coming from the forest right behind them and the three pirates spun around to see trees falling left and right. The Vajra tore through so fast that there was no time for them to keep running. Sanji put Nami down and she struggled to stay standing, although she did not have her Clima Tact with her anymore and did not know how she would be able to help. Sanji and Usopp stepped in front of her and rose their right leg and slingshot respectively.

Monsters came charging out of the forest, and then a black portal opened up in front of Usopp and Sanji. The two of them opened their eyes wide, and the giant Vajra in the front of the pack of monsters charging at them stopped to turn to the portal instead. The black portal vanished, and on the other side of where it lifted up was a teenager in a torn yellow shirt, with blood dripping down his left arm and right leg. He had a Keyblade in only his right hand, and he was panting heavily with blood coming down the right corner of his mouth. "Get back," Riku snarled. His friends behind him did not know if he was talking to them or to the monsters that were still coming out of the forest in front of them but stopping at the sight of him.

"Riku," Usopp said, his whole body shaking. He clenched his teeth, but then shouted, "It's okay! Use the Heartless! It's the only way!"

"I can't," Riku growled. He saw some of the more daring beasts inching forwards and he knew they were going to attack at any second. He was out of fuel. He was tired. "I, have to use, my trump cards," he muttered. The others looked at his back confusedly as they had no idea what he was talking about. He opened his mouth to apologize, but he closed it and just ground his teeth together. It wouldn't make a difference, he thought, and then he swiped his Keyblade down in front of him.

Riku cut a hole of darkness in the air, then stepped back slowly towards the others behind him. "I command you," Riku said, his voice low, his eyes shadowed over. "Come out, and destroy these monsters."

"What are you talking about?" Sanji asked. He kept his foot raised and got ready as one of the giant lion-like monsters came charging around the left side of the portal. It made it five feet, before a yellow beam shot out of the black portal and collided with the Vajra's face. The beam erupted into a massive dome explosion with a force that knocked Nami and Usopp off their feet and sent Riku and Sanji skidding backwards. Sanji had to put both feet on the ground and he crossed his arms in front of him as he was pushed back.

Nami and Usopp sat up and got back to their feet much farther from the black portal than they just were. Riku turned towards them and he started jogging away, "Come on! Let's get out of here!"

"Wait," Usopp mumbled. He stepped backwards himself, but kept staring over at that portal.

"Usopp, let's go!" Riku shouted.

Nami spun around and saw Riku running with his head down. She turned back towards the black portal as it was closing, and she spotted two figures standing on the other side of it. There was a man in full golden armor who rose up a sword and shot forward, making giant monsters fly up in the air as he ripped through them with a sword dripping dark ooze. There was another figure there though. He stood there, much taller than her or her friends. His body was dark, but his silhouette was one she recognized. He rose up his right hand and it glowed bright red, then he lifted his left, and it glowed bright yellow. Out from his back came a pillar of darkness that shot into the sky.

"It can't be," Sanji whispered, losing his breath at the sight of the figure.

"What, the, fuck?" Usopp muttered. He watched as the fat figure rose his right hand and punched it forward, sending a giant fist of magma flying into the forest in front of him and smashing through all the trees and Grimm that were running between them. He fired beams out of his left hand, and the pillar of black on top of his head flattened down to the ground and shot into the forest, catching all the creatures that were escaping and dragging them down into a Black Hole. The dark, fat figure, turned his head partially to the left to face a monster coming at him from that side, and when he was turned the three pirates got a glimpse of his face.

"Blackbeard," Nami whispered at the sight of the menacing pirate. The fat man was covered in a thin veil of darkness so she could still see his hairy chest behind it, but his eyes were not glowing white like normal Heartless. Instead, his eyes were black with gray irises in the middles of them.

"Guys!" Riku shouted behind him. The three pirates turned and saw the young man already halfway across the black rocky area. He stopped between two fast-moving streams of lava and yelled, "We need to go! The others could be in danger!"

Sanji thought about Robin and he hardened his expression, starting to jog towards Riku. Nami and Usopp did not make similar expressions though. Nami was shaking her head at Riku who saw her and turned away. Usopp though, his lips were twisting into an enraged look and he sprinted towards Riku faster than both Sanji and Nami. "What the fuck are you doing?!" He screamed.

Sanji looked at Usopp's back and usually when the younger man would yell at Riku he would feel the urge to tell him to calm down, but at the moment he did not. "Was that Blackbeard?!" Nami shouted up at him.

"How the Hell did you summon a dead Yonko?!" Usopp screamed at his back.

"Explain yourself Riku!" Nami yelled as Riku stopped again and clenched his fists at his sides.

"Orochimaru never released the Reanimation Jutsu!" Riku finally shouted at them all. They stared at him in confusion and shock as he spun around and continued, "When he died, the Reanimations that were not sealed never got called off. During the battle, Ansem trapped two of the undead soldiers inside a dark realm. I don't know how to return them to the grave, so I've been keeping them as trump cards in case something were to come up. And look, Blackbeard just saved our lives!" He looked behind the pirates and saw more explosions going off back in the direction of the field covered in horrifying monsters.

Usopp marched towards him furiously. "I don't care that you have Blackbeard trapped in the darkness! But what about that other guy?!" Riku turned his gaze away and he kept shouting. "That's what I thought! You have an innocent guy, trapped inside your darkness just like you trapped me, and Rin, and everyone else!"

"It's different. There's nowhere for them to go! They're already dead!" Riku clenched his fists harder and blood seeped through his fingers. "What am I supposed to do about it? Let Blackbeard go?"

"Even if you didn't, why didn't you let the other guy?!" Usopp yelled, stepping right up to Riku's chest now. He glared into the teenager the same age as him's eyes, "Answer me Riku!"

"What if I release him," Riku began darkly, "and he goes back to listening to the last orders Orochimaru gave him?" Usopp leaned back a little as Riku glared right back into Usopp's eyes. "Zaratras is strong. So strong, that I didn't trust myself, to be able to finish him off." He clenched his fists even tighter and spoke softly under his breath, "I didn't know, what to do. I didn't know what to do!" He yelled and glared back into the sniper's eyes. "So I kept them in the darkness! It was the safest option. And I figured, if it came to it I could use them to get me out of a tight spot."

Usopp took a step back, shaking his head at the silver haired teen in front of him. "That's, that's-"

"Despicable," Riku finished for him. "You think I don't know that?" He growled. "But it's over now. Those were the only two I had, so don't worry about it. Right now, we need to find Ben and the others." Riku turned around and continued walking towards the ravine on the other side of the lava fields. He walked over black rocks and heard the others whispering to each other behind him. He knew what they were talking about, and he ground his teeth knowing they were right to think he was scum.

Nami sped up a little to get out of the conversation with the other two. She got over to Riku and glanced back at the others, seeing Usopp glaring daggers into Riku's back, and Sanji frowning as well though not as deeply. She turned her head and saw the side of Riku's face, the frustrated, angry look on it. "Thank you," she whispered, hiding her voice from the others behind her. Riku turned towards her in surprise and he came to a stop. "You did save us," she added. "How you did it, I don't agree with. I know you didn't want- I," she stopped talking as Riku's surprised look turned even more shocked, but it was not her words that made him look that way. His jaw dropped and his eyes turned into saucers.

Riku stepped forward and bumped into Nami who stumbled out of the way. She frowned and opened her mouth to yell at the man she was just trying to console, but Riku started running and he leapt over a stream of lava to the next rock down. She followed him and heard Usopp behind her, "Now what the Hell is that bastard doing?" She darted Usopp a glare then looked back at Riku's back. She saw him running in a very specific direction, and she looked past him to a far away black rock surrounded by lava where something was sticking out of it.

"What is that?" Sanji muttered, spotting the form sticking out of the rock as well.

Nami peered closer and stepped to the edge of the black rocks so she was right next to the magma. It was hot, but she ignored it because of the horrifying feeling in her stomach. It was Usopp who lost his angry and confused look first, as his eyes were the best of any of them. "Oh my God," Usopp whispered. His friends looked at him and saw Usopp's entire body shaking. The sniper clenched his teeth hard but no longer looked angry at Riku at all. He ran forward and jumped across the gap of burning red liquid, chasing after Riku.

"Wait! What is it?" Nami called after him.

Sanji jogged to Nami's side, and he picked her up before leaping after Usopp. She did not thank him, though they both knew she would not be able to make these leaps with her broken ribs. The two of them chased after Usopp and Riku, and they spotted Riku stopping on the rock far ahead of them. When they saw what he stopped in front of, Sanji almost lost his footing on the landing as both he and Nami dropped their jaws. Nami lifted a hand to her mouth and covered it while staring ahead in horror, tears coming out of her eyes.

Riku stopped on the circular rock in the middle of the sea of lava and he stared in front of him with shaking hands. His eyes darted around as his mouth twisted in rage, but he did not see any enemies around him for miles. Even all the monsters were still busy with the two pawns he sent against them. That left him alone on the rock, alone with the figure strapped to a steel cross sticking out of the ground. He had nails through his wrists, and a single black spike sticking out of his stomach. Blood poured down his arms and dripped off like a faucet on the ground below him. "Ben," Riku whispered. His voice came out hoarse and he stumbled forward towards the cross Ben was strapped to. "Who- when-"

"Get him down from there!" Usopp shouted at Riku's back as he got close.

Riku shook his head around and snapped his gaze back up to the spikes sticking out of Ben. He whipped out his Keyblade fast and jumped up, smashing each of the spikes with his Keyblade and making Ben drop once the spikes of metal were all in pieces. He caught Ben as the boy fell, and lowered him down to the rock slowly right as Usopp got to them. "Ben!" Usopp shouted down at the kid on the floor. He thought about the first time he saw the boy, coming out of the woods at Riku's side fighting against a giant five-eyed blob monster together. He thought about how he and Luffy sprinted towards them and joined in the fight, and how amazed they were when Ben transformed into an alien.

"Ben," Riku whispered. He lowered his head down to Ben's chest above the spot where there was a hole leaking blood. The boy had no shirt on, nor any pants. He was bloody and burnt all over. Riku put his head down on Ben's chest and he listened. He held his breath, and then his eyes snapped open wide at the sound of thumping inside his friend. "Ben!" Riku shouted, snapping up fast and lifting his Keyblade. I thought you were… "Curaga! Curaga! Curaga!" Riku blasted as much healing magic as he could into Ben, but he ran out after only two uses. He snarled and shook around his Keyblade a little, before yelling, "Cura!" This time he managed to get the green light to come out, though there was less of it than the first two times he yelled.

"Ben!" Sanji and Nami shouted as they arrived at the rock with the other two. "Put me down," Nami told Sanji and he complied. She winced but dropped down to her knees next to Ben right away. She saw his chest lifting up and down and the woman sighed a deep breath of relief, falling back on her butt and staring up at the sky. Thank you, she thought, not knowing who she was even thinking it to.

"He's alive," Usopp whispered, his own heart rate slowing down as well.

"What kind of bastard," Sanji began, grinding his teeth in fury. He glared around and sensed out with his Haki, but he could not feel any humanoid presences within a mile of them. If I find the shitty bastard who did this, I'm going to rip him apart.

Ben lay flat on his back, and his eyes opened up towards the sky. He opened his mouth to scream, but it was not Bloodman's face he saw above him, it was Riku's. He kept his mouth open in that position for a few seconds and his whole face twisted and distorted. He opened and closed his mouth, trying to say something, and then he just rose up his bloody right arm and put it in front of his eyes. He tried holding it in to no avail. "Ahh, ahhhh!" Sanji turned away and Usopp clenched his fists tight at his sides.

"Ben," Riku whispered, but Ben did not stop. The boy brought his other arm up and covered his face with them both. He tried covering his mouth and his eyes, but his tears seeped out to the sides and rolled down his face while his muffled sobs just got louder. Riku stood up in front of Ben and he turned around, his nails digging into his palms harder than ever. He winced in pain, but his heart hurt so much worse. How could I let this happen? I thought, I believed Ben was strong. I trusted him to fight these monsters on his own! How could I be so stupid?! He's thirteen! He didn't have his Omnitrix, and I just let him, I let him, Riku clenched his eyes shut tight as he heard Ben's wails behind him.

Nami leaned back forward after falling to her butt in relief. She lost her relieved look from just Ben being alive, and her expression returned to a pained one as she put her arms around Ben and pulled him towards her. He pulled away but she pulled back towards her and he was too weak to fight it. "Oh Ben," she whispered as she rubbed the back of his head, pulling his head into her chest. "It's okay. It's going to be alright," she whispered to him.

Sanji turned around and saw Riku glaring out over the lava deep in thought. He looked back at Nami holding a crying Ben and turned to Usopp who was glaring at the ground, so angry at everything. The chef ran a hand through his hair and he pulled out his cigarettes, frowning as there were only two left. He lit one of the last two up anyway though, and took a puff before speaking. "Let's get moving," the others all looked back at him and he continued, "Luffy and the others could be anywhere. We should start looking for them."

Riku clenched his teeth together for a few more seconds, then let out a breath and unclenched his fists as well. "No," he said softly. He looked back at the pirates who all turned to him, and looked down at the back of Ben's head too. "We can't handle this continent on our own. I realized that these last few days."

"That's why we need to find Luffy and the others," Usopp snapped at him. Riku looked at Usopp and his expression was so exhausted, so drained and sad that Usopp could not keep glaring at him for more than another second.

Riku shook his head and continued, "If we just go wandering around looking for our friends, we're more likely going to run into more of Zeref's forces, or powerful monsters. We have no idea where we are, and we're low on supplies." He looked up at the sky and at the suns far in the distance to the north yet still high up in the sky. "We were moved pretty far south," Riku stated. He turned around and looked even farther to the south, "If we keep going this way, we're likely to run into some Resistance strongholds." Hopefully, he added to himself as the chances of running into one anytime soon still seemed slim to him.

"What about Luffy-" Nami began.

"Everyone should have the same idea," Riku stated. He looked back at the orange haired woman, "We were heading south in the first place. Instead of walking in circles, everyone should be heading south again. It's what we all know to do. Hopefully the Resistance bases are in contact with each other, and if the others show up at any other settlements or bases, we can locate them. We need to find somewhere safe to rest though." As he spoke, Ben's sobbing had been getting quieter and he could no longer hear it. He thought the boy had calmed down some, but as Nami leaned Ben's face away from her chest, they all saw the boy's eyes were closed and he was out cold.

Ben was unconscious, and Riku was out of magic, so he still could not heal Nami whose ribs ached like crazy. Usopp and Sanji looked around at their weak, exhausted group, and the two of them realized Riku was right. Usopp looked back to the north though as he realized it. Luffy… Wherever you are, I hope you know to head south. Knowing you, you probably don't even know where that is. He sighed as he figured Luffy could handle himself though, and everyone else would likely come up with Riku's plan themselves and head south as well. "Alright," Usopp said, looking up into Riku's eyes. He lost a lot of the hatred from before, as it was pretty hard to direct his anger at someone who looked so distraught over Ben's condition. He knew there were much worse monsters than Riku they had to deal with. His hate was all directed at the monster who crucified Ben, and he kept that hate going so that he could deal with Riku right now. "Let's get moving," Usopp suggested, turning south himself. "We should find somewhere safe before nightfall."

Sanji nodded his head in agreement and took another puff of his cigarette. Riku stepped towards Nami and he took Ben off her hands, holding him up the same way Sanji was carrying Nami before. Sanji offered to pick her up again, but Nami shook her head, "I can do it," she said. The pain in her stomach suddenly felt small, as she was comparing it to the boy in Riku's arms'. Just thinking about the way he looked on that cross, and the sounds he made when they got him down, it had her wincing in pain again. Sanji thought it was from her cracked ribs, but Nami opened her eyes and he saw the water in them and knew.

"He'll be alright," Sanji said as the other three got ahead of them. She glanced at the chef and he put a hand on her shoulder, "Ben's a strong kid. He'll get past this."

Nami looked over at Riku's back and the kid's head sticking out past Riku's right side. "Yeah," she whispered. "I really hope so."

---

Thousands of miles north of Nami, Riku, and the others, a lone figure sat on top of a mountain that shot way above the clouds. The sky above him was dark because he was so high in the atmosphere, and he knew if he tried flying more than a few hundred meters up, he would hit the barrier surrounding Nexus. He sat there on a mountaintop covered in snow, wearing a furry coat, warm boots, and mittens over his hands. The air up there was thin and frigid, so much so that he could see his staggered breaths hanging in the air. The teen was still not used to the air pressure and lack of oxygen, but he definitely felt better than the day before.

He looked off the side of the mountain over the tops of other very tall mountains around him. Behind him was the very tallest mountain in the range, with many peaks sticking up around its sides, and a large flat section that was level with him. The flat section of the taller mountain connected to the peak of the mountain he was on by a long wooden bridge. There were buildings all over that flat section, and the side peaks and mountaintop both had no snow on them, so people were walking around the area casually talking and selling goods at the market. There was an entire town in the upper atmosphere on top of the tallest mountain in the world. The teenager sitting on the top of the second tallest mountain could hear them far behind him, but he was not focused on them at all.

The teenager wearing a red coat grinned as he finally spotted what he was looking for. It came flying up through the puffy white clouds far below him, looked around for a second, then spotted him and did a backflip before shooting up in the sky. Mew had a pink aura around it, but as it closed in on the spiky-brown-haired teen on the second tallest mountain's peak, it lost its pink aura and slowed down. "Hey Mew," Sora called to his friend as the Pokemon finally reached him. Mew flew right towards him and nuzzled into his face and Sora laughed while rubbing his arms around the cute pink Pokemon. "Haha, I know buddy, it's cold up here. So," he started and pulled back from the hug with his chilly Pokemon. "Did you find them?" He asked.

Mew nodded its head and made a bunch of mewing sounds at the boy in front of it. Far behind Sora across the wooden bridge, a few people spotted the creature in front of Sora and they shook their heads, wondering how he could understand the creature. Sora smiled as Mew finished talking and he chuckled to himself, "So they're still okay," he said in relief. "Alright," he clapped his hands together and rubbed them back and forth as they were still cold even inside the mittens. "Lugia and Charizard haven't checked back in yet, so do you mind looking for the others?" Mew shook its head 'no' at him and Sora smiled wider. "Thanks. Look for everyone who wasn't with Riku: Gray, Killua, Rin, Juvia, Dash, Kairi… and actually, look for Timmy too if you can."

Mew did another backflip in the air and then a full spin around Sora. "Take a break if you need to too!" Sora called down as his Legendary Pokemon turned and started flying away. He followed Mew's path all the way back down to the puffy white clouds below and then sighed a breath of relief. Riku, I hope you're taking care of everyone. I'll be back soon. Someone's just being a little difficult-

"Hey Sora!" a high-pitched voice called out. Sora smiled at the sound of it and he turned around to look across the wooden bridge back to the tallest mountain, Mount Vegeta. There was a small child with crazy black spiky hair going every direction over his head. The kid waved a hand towards him and called out, "We're starting up training! Come join!"

Sora chuckled and he put his hands behind his head as he started walking over. "Sure!" Sora called out. "Don't know if I'll be able to keep up with you Saiyans though." The teen chuckled as he got closer to his friend, and he looked over the kid's head at all the black haired figures walking around the top of the mountain. Most of them were wearing armor, and all of them had tails sticking out of their butts, wrapped around their waists unlike his friend's that was just sticking out behind him and waving around like he was excited. "You sure I'm allowed Goku?" Sora asked.

"Yeah," Goku replied excitedly. "I asked and he said it was okay!"

"Well then," Sora said. He pulled his hands down from behind his head and clapped them together in front of him. "Let's get started!"

---

A/N Goku! Sora! XD Thanks for reading! We get a glimpse of where two of our missing heroes are, surrounded by Saiyans at the top of Mount Vegeta. Meanwhile though, the rest of the group get in a fight with the Spriggans, including Eileen Belserion who not only took over Pyraxas but also rearranged an entire region of Aebrith (including part of the Leam Empire, at least its Capital Remano where we caught a glimpse of Ichigo too)! It looks like Ben bit off more than he could chew without his Omnitrix, though the Spriggans really are very powerful. Even their subordinates (like Bakel, Heine, and Juilet) were all able to hold their own in the Fairy Tail manga against pretty powerful Fairy Tail members. Riku reveals his "trump cards" and releases Zaratras and Blackbeard to give him and his friends a chance to escape while they're all exhausted and wounded. Ben... well, Bloodman is a crazy demon who likes to crucify people, as shown... How will this new separation effect the characters? Will they be able to find Resistance bases and regroup with each other? What about Goku and Sora? What about Timmy?! Find out in the upcoming chapters of Nexus: Heroes Will Rise!

Limit-Breaking chapter 69 . 12h ago

Damn everybody is just mad with each other and they are just despairing about how bad it's going for then. Maybe Goku and Timmy shouldn't have gone with them on this journey cause by the looks of it they are relying on them way to much to come and help them. I mean it makes sense as to why but they should try to have more hope. As for Luffy he was so scared that it kinda made me laugh at how he changed from we fight we fight we fight to RUN RUN RUN AWAY. Also ussop is starting to hate Riku is getting more interesting and now ben lost his Omnitrix that fucking sucks he really relied on it. Also killua was in a coma and now everybody feels bad for treating him a little bad. Man so much drama, but hey I do have a some questions when it came down to meliodas why did he say he has some questions for that super Saiyan so mysteriously will we find out anytime soon . And just curious will Vegeta Make a appearance any time in this story or no. Also giving you a heads up the voice actor for Bulma on dragon Ball super has passed away for the subbed version so they will have to find a new voice actor and this may affect the series but we will KING IS OMNI-POTENT, JUST KIDDING at most I was comparing him to zarbon and dodoria power where they technically can destroy a planet but king had a similar power to them so it's hard to gauge if king can actually destroy one since he has shown no feats close to that. Also when it comes down to Kara why was she just typing away on her computer instead of trying to help the fighters escape from being slaves has she given up on being a hero, does she not know also is there two Kara's in this story cause at one point you said dc series: super man, kara
Than you put her under super girl series: kara kinda confused there but besides that amazing job with all the suspense and drama everybody is just dying and losing hope and it continues to get better and better at this point they are going to need some senzu beans. Also I say the only people who should be traveling the world of Nexus are characters like goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and Timmy since they can handle it. But other people not so much even in groups they are having lot's of problems. I'll look forward to the next chapter.

Luckily, even if they can't rely on Goku and Timmy, Sora's always got their backs... most of the time. The sight of Bahamut def made the entire group bail as fast as they could, and Usopp hating Riku is only getting worse after what happened this chapter. You were totally right about Ben losing his Omnitrix, and without it he's shown he is just not as able to defeat one of the Spriggan 12 as he was... last chapter. Sad about that thing with Bulma's voice actress, and I wonder if they'll refer to it in the show at all or anything. King having close to Zarbon or Dodoria power seems a stretch to me with the planet-busting powers they have, but either way without his weapon he just isn't as strong (in this at least) (or from whenever he reappeared on Nexus from his timelines). As for Supergirl, I'm sure we'll see some of her in a bit (with Ichigo's reappearance this chapter making that even more pertinent), though I don't get what you're talking about with the "Dc series: superman, kara" thing her being two people. I've had a few characters that are from multiple DC universes in this and managed to merge them into the same (like robin, Batman, Superman, etc.) though I also had Trunks and Future Trunks so there is the possibility for multiple universe's people. (Not for Supergirl though, I guess spoiler). Everybody needs a senzu bean, and it would be tough to tell Natsu or Luffy not to go on an adventure cuz they're not strong enough. Anyway, thanks for the review, and thanks everyone for reading, favoriting, following, and reviewing. Well, 'til next time!