The Grand Crossover RP - Pathway to Origin [IC/PG-13/Moved to NCM for Finale]

[Tesability Black]

~Counter Corps - Path of Truth - Neos' POV~

"You know, having an existential crisis is fine and all, but let's not have it mess with your head too much."

The bird form that Neos took moved its head towards the now-floating youkai nearby, shaking its head before refocusing its sight, which had been made even more-sharp by the form's eyes, toward the rest of the Path ahead, which allowed a purple crystal to enter view.

Suddenly, it had barrel-rolled, avoiding a cloud that suddenly jumped out at it in a shape similar to its current one. An indignant hoot left its beak as it continued flying forward...

"Well, one look at you right now is enough. I mean, you're flying like a drunk bird right now."

...despite its current company being a smartass.

Shaking its head as it flew, it soon swooped down to land in front of the purple crystal at the apparent end of the path.

‘Are you content with your present self’?

The question echoed into its head as soon as it landed, lifting its beak to look upon the glowing core within. If it could frown, it would, but that was a difficult thing to do with a beak.

"Are you even capable of acting outside of your given programming?"

"Oh, how she favored you much more than a being that quite literally saved her life before. Can you make such a claim? NO!"

"You never should have existed!"

The voice that echoed in its mind made the bird narrow its eyes, an attempt at a growl trying to leave its throat before it finally made a response.

"No, I'm not." After a split second, it jolted its head back in surprise when it realized that its Pokespeak was being translated for the sake of those listening, preventing the need to transform into a shape that could speak like a human. "...even if it is true that I started as a figment of a particular person's imagination," it started to chirp once more after a few moments, the magic of the Path strangely translating what it would say. "I will prove that I am just as alive as anyone naturally born to the various parts of the Omniverse."

The sound of a portal opening nearby became heard as the bird turned its head just in time to see...of all people, the purple-suited Gemini being suddenly dropped near the gem, landing on his ass with a resounding thud.

"Argh...and Origin once more demands a certain service," Gemini grumbled as he began to stand up, dusting himself off before turning his head towards the jewel with a frown on his face. "And no, I shall never be 'content' with my present self, not as long as I remain lacking my own body outside of this Pathway and still have to answer to something in some way...and yes, that is including you, Origin."

If the light of the jewel within was capable of seeing from behind its sturdy cover, it felt like it had shifted attentions from the two that became one once again as Gemini suddenly disappeared as quickly as he arrived towards Yukari for her answer to such a question...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Counter Corps - Path of Death - Soul of Ravnica's POV~

"All...all love seems to do..."

"...is just...shred me apart..."

"Someone I viewed as a brother on Ravnica is dead because I loved him enough to try and take him with me through the Eternities..."

"A woman I fell in love with toyed with my emotions and tried to use me to as a mere tool to get what she needed to break free of the literal demons she's made deals with."

"...a particular elf I fell for I wound up physically hurting on an almost-daily basis with her knowing one of my secrets until she asked me to erase it from her mind..."

"I doubt I would ever be able to give or receive love without someone being severely-wounded by it somehow in my life..."

The Soul lowered the shoulders of its current host at the words being unintentionally projected from the angel's head, which could also be heard by both the pyromancer and the angel himself now. The words themselves seem to have started from a laughing fit sourced from a moment of insanity to a deeply-depressing tone that was broken up by the occasional choking that came from crying.

"...how...did such a damaged soul...become Our Guildpact," it asked faintly cryptically, borrowing Jace's voice as it did, though such words couldn't help but become echoed.

"...for something that's supposed to be so 'good'," the projected voice became heard, this one sounded extremely-flat, almost emotionless. "it seems to be a cruel thing in its own right."

And the Soul narrowed its borrowed eyes at this claim.

"The Guildpact fails to realize that an action taken was an act of 'love' in its own right."

Jace himself would not have needed to make such motions, but the Soul in control raised his arms above itself as the eyes became covered by a more whitish-blue than normal, revealing multiple cruel and vicious markings on the upper arms that could only be compared to brutal torture carvings. After only a moment, the cloak worn by the being became to move around with an unknown wind as the scene within the mind becomes visible to all, including the blossoms that flew around the two within the angel's mind...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Counter Corps - Path of Death (Inside Hapshiel's Mind) - Jace's POV~
 

You have spent so long being afraid of being hurt, and hurting others that you've forgotten what elements love itself: Acceptance. To love someone, is to accept them in their entirety. Not by trying to change them, or making them something else, but to be happy with everything that makes a person themselves. And..., I dare say that your own mother knew that that fact quite well.

His mother...

...just who was she?

From what little he remembered of his past, from before he left his home plane...which was admittedly next to nothing at all, he wasn't able to bring up anything that could pass as such a woman.

"...for something that's supposed to be so 'good'," Jace started to say, never having lifted his head again once he started to talk again. "it seems to be a cruel thing in its own right." Jace managed to push himself backwards, a decent distance away from the primary Hapshiel angel. A depressed glaze was starting to form over his eyes, though he shook his head before daring to look up again, the strange glaze moving away from view for the time being.

He knew that depression was a dangerous thing to fall into, especially for someone like himself, one that could chain into drastic things for possibly others around him.

"The Guildpact fails to realize that an action taken was an act of 'love' in its own right."

Wait a second, that last voice wasn't his and yet it sounded vaguely like it for some indiscernible reason. Raising his head, Jace dared to look all around himself to try to find the source of the strange voice. Fortunately for him, the source appeared, fading into view amongst the many cherry blossoms.

The large bluish form of the Soul of Ravnica, whose height could easily even cause Hapshiel to need to look up to see its masked face, had appeared and it looked around before its black eyes landed upon Jace. It would take the sharpest of eyes to spot, but there was a note of sorrow in the deep orbs, of pity.

"When We were on the verge of self-destruction by way of the Supreme Verdict, you had the chance of leaving Us behind and think nothing more of it. Instead, you chose to return and ultimately saved Us all single-handedly by yourself, even at the cost of requiring your mind to be reforged for a second time after it became unraveled."

...a second time?

"That, Guildpact, is a form of love of its own, the love of a place one calls home."

Jace found himself looking down and away from both angel and avatar, unsure of how he was supposed to respond to such a claim. Instead he found himself flashing back to a small family he had spotted back on the wild plane of Zendikar, using his power to subtly help aid them before using that same trick for Ravnica's benefit.

And a tiny sideways smirk appeared on his face as he silently thanked that family for their part in the whole endeavor, though they would never know what they had done.

[Kingdom Xathers]

 

Mind Wanderers

The Dark City - La Resistance

 

“Soooo, lemme get this straight.  There are roughly forty-two hundred Alisters rocking around in your watch, that you can bring out at any time?” Ratchet questioned.

“Forty-two thousand, actually,” Alister replied, “and yes, for the most part.  I’d have to be in a mentalscape (like we’re in right now) in order for them to appear, otherwise it seems I can channel them through my body.”

“This changes so many things,” Ratchet uttered, leaning back into his throne.  “Red had just over a hundred constructs rattling about in his head, and now we have access to five digits worth of capable to semi-capable warriors at hand.  With them, we’d easily be able to assault the castle and finally kick Adrastos’ hide out of the power chair.”

“Indeed,” Alister nodded, “although I’d have to double-check on how many Altisters are actually capable of combat… and I’m sorry to say this, Too-Dee,” he added as he looked down to the drawing-like Altister holding his hand, “but I do not think you’re one of the Altisters who can fight.”

“B-but--” Too-Dee babbled, his eyes the size of dinner plated as he made a pouty lip.

“Look, I just don’t feel comfortable knowing you could get hurt out there.  Yes, I know you guys will simply enter Recovery-Mode if you get “killed”, but that still doesn’t make it any better,” Alister said in a firm fatherly tone.

Too-Dee sniffled a bit as he appeared to be close to crying, until Flat-Alex came by and handed the child-like scribble a hanky, to dry away his tears.  “Oh jeezus, how did that thing get off the wall?” Ratchet cringed, averting his eyes from Flat-Alex.

“Might I ask why you guys had my construct on the wall?” Alexander asked in a somewhat miffed tone.

“You see him?” Ratchet nodded at Flat-Alex.  “That’s a malformed memory, one that’s warped with no real basis of why it’s around.  We’re memories as well, so, he’s the equivalent of someone with no skin walking around trying to give people hugs.  It’s creepy, okay?”

“Still no reason to treat him differently,” Alexander uttered, casting a pitying glance at Flat-Alex as the cardboard-thin construct happily danced in front of Too-Dee, at least making the Altister feel better.

“We kept him on the wall for two very good reasons.  One, he doesn’t pay attention to us, like, at all.  He’s quite literally off in his own little world.  And two, he likes to wander about, especially in the Memory Vaults.  We can’t have him screwing about in there, lest he takes on the attributes of a bad memory.  Or, he wanders out onto the streets and gets killed.  We might find him creepy, but we kept him on the wall for his own safety, and the safety of this mind,” Ratchet explained.

“I see,” Alexander sighed, acknowledging Memory!Ratchet’s logic.

“I know it’s quite insulting, but as you should know memories are a fragile thing, and we gotta keep our count up until we can finally re-open Red’s good memories,” Ratchet sighed.  “But, that’s off-topic.  What is on-topic is finding out how many Altisters are available for a siege.  Even if it’s only a thousand, that’s still plenty enough for taking on Adrastos’ minions.  And maybe, if we’re lucky, they’ll be more than enough to purge a little more darkness from Red’s heart.”

“Right, so, if we’re ready,” Alister spoke up as he led Memory!Ratchet to a more open area of the Resistance’s Hideout.

Alexander, meanwhile, hung back for a bit, glancing over once more towards Flat-Alex, who was waving goodbye to Too-Dee as the Altister followed after Alister.  He still felt pity for the malformed memory, and not because it was a representation of Red’s view of Alex himself, but simply for the fact that it was essentially alone all this time.  Still, the pity didn’t stop Alexander from getting an idea.  Moving close to the two-dimensional figure, Alex tapped on its shoulder to get its attention.  “Could I… borrow you for a moment?” he asked his thin doppelganger in a semi-cryptic manner….

---

“This isn’t going to be easy, even with the additional manpower,” Ratchet sighed as he walked to a more private location with Alister.  “You saw the memory, but, that’s only a small piece of what that sick, sadistic bastard can do.”

“I figured as such, Ratchet,” Alister nodded, his ears twitching as he picked up on Alexander running up to join them.  “It’s a good thing we’re quick enough to adapt to whatever Adrastos could throw at us.”

“That’s the thing, it’s not about adapting, it’s about overcoming.  He’s criminally insane, and powerful to boot.  Plus, you unintentionally granted him an even greater tool to use now.  Blood of the Ancestry,” Ratchet grimaced.

“Ugh… yeah,” Alister cringed as he remembered that little tidbit.

“Adrastos might be incredibly goofy looking, but, he is himself a dragon.  A malformed looking one, but he is a dragon nonetheless.  He takes that form to take people off-guard, but that’s not what makes him dangerous.  I trust from that repressed memory you know a small bit about dragon Ancestors, right?” Ratchet inquired.

“Mostly that channeling their power can be taxing on the channeler if they’re not sufficiently strong enough to handle it,” Alexander spoke up, fidgeting with his satchel.  “I can only imagine that the Dragon Ancestors were truly that powerful, especially when compared to modern day dragons, as well.”

“You’d be right, uhhh, Alex.  The Ancestors are where any dragon can trace their heraldry from.  Tyndarion, the Fireborn and father of all modern day red dragons. Neptune, the Waterborn and mother of all blue dragons, and so on.  Adrastos traces his heraldry from what should be an impossible thing.  Necron, the Deathborn and father of the black dragons.  He was killed before he should have sired any young; yet somehow, Adrastos is tied to him.  Which is why he’s a bit of a bigot to other dragons.  Adrastos will most likely call upon the dark dragon’s power, which is why you need to pull out everything you have against him,” Ratchet explained.

“We intend to,” Alister declared confidently.

“So, where are we headed?” Alexander asked.

“To a more open area,” Alister explained, “so that we can examine as many Altisters at a time.  We need to be sure just how many are actually capable of fighting.”

“I trust that you know we’re capable, right Al?” Left-Eye chimed in as he and Vortex Al suddenly appeared by the General’s side, giving Memory!Ratchet quite the shock.

“Fuckin’ Christ, you guys were this close to scaring the crap outta me!” Ratchet snapped, a hand clasped tightly to his chest.  “Freaking frakk.  But, we shouldn’t have too many out at once.  Adrastos would notice a large presence of people, so, maybe you should keep the others in reserve until we’re assaulting the castle.  So we can take him by surprise.”

“As you wish,” I.T. replied calmly in his monotone, scaring Ratchet once again as the Altister had appeared right behind him.

“WOULD YOU GUYS STOP THAT ALREADY?!” Ratchet half-shrieked as he now found himself cradled in Alister’s arms.

I.T. couldn’t help but to chuckle at Memory!Ratchet’s distress, a smirk forming on his lips.  “Well, you heard him,” I.T. addressed Left-Eye and Vortex Al, and possibly the other Altisters as well.  “Let us keep our numbers to a maximum of six at any given time until it is time for our coup d'etat.”

“You got it,” Left-Eye nodded as he and Vortex Al vanished.

“That means you too, mister,” Alister said to Too-Dee.  The scribble-like Azimuth pouted, but nonetheless conceded as he, too, faded out for the moment.

“It’s strange,” Alex spoke up, folding his arms thoughtfully, “but, we haven’t seen Zayon at all this entire time we’ve been in Red’s mind.  You’d think he’d have the greatest stake in all of this.”

“Y’know, I was just thinking that myself,” Alister admitted. “One would think he’d probably be ecstatic to be in “his bae’s" head,” he added with air quotation marks.  “... he did call Red his “husband”, right?”

“He said he wasn’t coming,” I.T. answered bluntly.  “Said he didn’t want to ruin things, and was going to wait until it was all over.  He’s been very quiet since you entered Red’s mind, except for when he mutters to himself.  Perhaps he is suffering from sensory overload due to having his memories back.”

“Wait, this Zayon called Red his WHAT?!” Ratchet yelped.

Taking that as his cue, Alexander wordlessly pulled out a photo from his satchel and handed it over to Ratchet to see.  The memory took one look at it, before he started shaking violently, his image flickering with static.  “REPRESS!” Ratchet screeched, hurling the photo away as another door in the vault was sealed tight.  “I didn’t need to see that.  No, correction, I didn’t need to be reminded of that.  That photo already killed a few precious memories, I don’t want to be one of them,” he shuddered in disgust.

“Jeez, I think you--and by extension, Red--need to chill out over this,” Alexander muttered as he stowed The Photo away.

“Actually, Alex, I’m sorta with Ratchet on this one,” Alister insisted with a grimace.  “And not just because I don’t want to be reminded of it, either.  We can’t go around killing off these constructs before it’s time for the show.”

“Plus, Dragon Elders take a vow of celibacy and non-commitment.  The idea of him breaking that vow for marriage alone is already too much to handle before he even begins to process the concept of it being a same-sex marriage,” Ratchet grimaced.

“Alright, I get it,” Alexander grunted as he rolled his eyes, willing to drop the topic if only to keep Alister and Red’s memory constructs from having a (possibly fatal) fit.  “Look, let’s just get this examination over and done with, okay?”

“I think we’ve seen enough,” Ratchet grunted as the memory just refused to repress itself.  “Shadow Creeps aren’t hard to beat, they just have numbers on their side.  That’s how they got us: By overwhelming each construct individually, and destroying them.  If we can match them, that’s all that really matters.”

“Sounds good enough to us,” Left-Eye chimed in once more as he popped his head over Alister’s shoulder.  “Although, I have to ask, just to be absolutely sure: Are there different types of Shadow Creeps?  Or are we just going to be dealing with a “mass-produced” sort of thing?”

“Mass-produced, but they’re living shadows.  So they can conglomerate to become a variety of different shadowy things.  They love becoming predators, like wolves and tigers.  Gives them an edge.  The Shadow Creeps will stop us in the city, but what’s most important are the castle steps.  The castle is defended by a dozen of Adrastos’ Dark Gem Golems.  They’re powerful and hard to damage, save for the weak point of every Dark Gem.  Apply enough blunt force to the tip of a Dark Gem, and the entire thing shatters.  Not a hard task, but considering they average a height of twelve feet, reaching that tip proves difficult,” Ratchet explained.  “You two saw the service models in that memory, so you know what they look like already.  So just imagine them taller, and thicker.  A lot meaner, too.”

“Noted,” Alister nodded along with Left-Eye.  “But then, after we manage to get inside, what else should we expect?  Aside from the Boss Fight at the end of the dungeon, that is.”

“Red,” Ratchet answered.  “He’s in there too.  Adrastos has no guards inside the castle, he’s too arrogant to think he’d need them.  But he will try to deceive you as you make it to the throne room.  His ability for illusion and deception is peerless.”

“I see,” Alexander nodded thoughtfully as he stroked at his chin.

“I guess if that’s everything we need to know,” Left-Eye spoke up, trailing off just in case Ratchet had anything else to add.

“No, nothing else… beyond good freaking luck.  Alister and Spyro tried before you guys and... well, you’ll see them soon enough anyways,” Ratchet sighed as he returned for the group with or without Alister, Alex, or the Altisters.

“... I’ve a bad feeling about this,” Alexander uttered quietly as he and Alister hung back for a moment, Ratchet’s last sentence weighing heavily on his mind.

Alister, too, was reflecting on Ratchet’s rhetoric, but brushed it aside with a shake of his head.  “Even so, we can’t be deterred now.  Red’s counting on us to save him from this mess, and that’s exactly what we’re gonna do,” Alister declared as he ran off after Ratchet, Alexander following close behind him.

“... … of course it is up to the two of you,” I.T. muttered softly, staying behind as the two lombaxes ran off.  “Just so long as you two remember that you have only one shot at this… … so don’t fuck it up….”  With that, I.T. simply vanished, awaiting the moment when his services would be required.

“OKAY PEOPLE, LISTEN UP!” Ratchet called as he walked the steps to stand before the throne.  “There is someone who should be sitting here, and he entrusted us to put him back in the pilot’s seat.  We’ve lost almost everything to Adrastos.  And now, with the help of Alister, Alex, and the Altisters, we’re going to take our lives back.  We’ve fought for so long, and it’s all led up to this moment.  Let’s show that asshole who’s boss of this mind!” Ratchet roared triumphantly.

Despite the backing of a personal army, the Resistance still kept to their usual strategy of creeping through the shadows on their way to the castle.  Whether it was luck, or a very sinister plot, there had been no Shadow Creeps anywhere as they made it to the Town Square.  It was a large circular area where all the main roads meet, and it was the city’s largest mass grave.  Scattered everywhere were the half-eaten remains of every single construct that hadn’t survived, and in the center of the sinister garden of death, was two crucifixes.  Nailed to the left crucifix was Memory!Alister, beaten and bloodied with his entrails hanging from his open stomach, and on the right was Memory!Spyro, the small dragon’s horns ripped off, and his eyes and nose were missing as he hung limply on the cross.  “This is why I lead the Resistance,” Ratchet said grimly to Alister.  “When Adrastos took over, those two were the first to go against him… and they were the first to fail.  They now stand as a testament as to what happens to those who try to go against Adrastos.”

“My god…!” Alexander quietly gasped in horror, both hands clasped over his mouth.

Alister was struck speechless himself, the sight of his mutilated memory self sending chills throughout his spine.  “... how… how did this happen exactly…?” Alister croaked as he tried to maintain his composure.

“They got into the castle,” Ratchet said bitterly, his jaw screwing up.  “No matter how amazing someone can look in your mind, they’re still just a memory, Alister.  And it’s the bad memories that are strong--”

“Ratchet, I didn't mean to give me an explanation,” Alister bluntly interrupted.  “I don’t want to hear about it; I want to see how it happened.”

“Do you even want to?” Ratchet spat as he gave Alister the weirdest look of shock.  “We all saw it for ourselves, and it’s not something to write home about--”

“--then let me see what you saw,” Alister interrupted again, very much adamant as he glared deeply into Ratchet’s eyes.

“Fine, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Ratchet grumbled as a small light shone on his finger, and he jabbed Alister’s temple with it.  Alexander got wise and placed his hand on Alister’s shoulder just as the memory flooded into Alister’s mind.


[spoiler=That Perfect Day]
They were back in the Town Square, back when the city was a lot more presentable.  The sky was still a light blue as Alister saw everything through what had presumably been Ratchet’s eyes.  He was watching from the shadows as, in the center of the Town Square, the robed figure of Adrastos stood between the two crosses.  The figures nailed to them were silent, beaten and bloodied as they hung on their crosses.  And all around them were many different memories, all looking on in horror.  The twelve Dark Gem Golems surrounded them, keeping them back as Adrastos idly tapped his staff on the ground.  “Keff.  To think I had hoped you all would be a lot more reasonable with this takeover.  A foolish mistake on my part, it would seem, ~keff.  It seems now I need to make a point, just to present how serious I am currently feeling!” Adrastos declared loudly.

“These two thought to invade my domain, with the hopes of taking back their precious master.  Tch, how pitiful indeed.  Allow me to show you all what happens to those who try to play the hero!” the Sorcerer continued, addressing Memory!Alister.  “Aww, look at that.  He’s all tuckered out and having a nice nap…. WAKE UP!” he said, brutally smashing his staff against the lombax’s face, leaving two deep scars from each prong.

The crowd booed loudly, but the Golems shut them up rather quickly as Adrastos struck the lombax again.  “Keff!  You pathetic little worm of a rat, you pathetic little hero figure.  What he saw in you is lost on me, Alister.  You are NOTHING!” the Sorcerer roared.  “But, ha ha, don’t worry, you will soon become something for me.  Hmm, what to do with you, ~keff?  Ahhh, I know” Adrastos remarked, grinning beneath his visor as his staff morphed, the prongs morphing into a short scythe.

With a loud, humourless chuckle, Adrastos impaled Alister right in his chest, the memory screaming loudly as the Sorcerer sliced downward, enjoying every second as his belly was sliced open, his organs spilling out.  The lombax kept screaming as Adrastos removed the blade, and the Sorcerer’s body language seemed to suggest he was annoyed.  “All that screaming is just so tedious.  Let’s silence that, shall we?” he hissed as Alister’s entrails were surrounded by a black glow.  Snaking up his body, they circled around his neck, and squeezed tightly.

Screams turned to loud rasps as the lombax was choked by his own guts, his white face turning steadily blue as every last breath in his chest escaped him.  With one loud rasp, the lombax went silent on his cross.  The crowd watched in horror as their hero was silenced.  “Now then, for the other one,” Adrastos sighed as he addressed Spyro.  “The hopeful one, the one who “broke” my spell.  You are the bright future he sees... let’s change that, shall we?”

The length of the scythe reached upwards, higher than the cross itself.  The Sorcerer was barely inhibited by the length as he took steady aim.  With one swing he cleaved right through Spyro’s closed eyelids, smashing them open and piercing both of his eyes on the length of his blade.  Many of the memories screamed loudly, some were even sick to their stomachs as those rancid eyeballs dropped from the blade.  And yet Adrastos was not done, as with two more swings, the young dragon’s horns and nose were cleaved clean off, allowing the whelp to bleed to death as Adrastos addressed the crowd.  “This is just a small example of what will happen to you if you try to defy me, ~keff.  I rule here now, and, if you value your very existences, then you should make do to remember that fact!” the Sorcerer declared.

“YOU RULE NO MORE!” a voice called from the crowd.

Adrastos looked up blankly as a large number of the memories turned violent, assaulting the Dark Gem Golems en masse to get to him.  The Sorcerer shook his head in pity as staff returned to its original shape, energy forming in the red gem as the insects tried to reach him.  “DISINTEGRATE!” Adrastos called.

A web of lightning burst forth from the gem, striking every memory right through their hearts, piercing them in long chains as they dropped dead in their tens.  None survived, save for those who watched from a safe distance.  Adrastos shook his head again.  “This wasn’t even worth the effort,” he spat as he stared intently in Ratchet’s direction….

“Ya happy now?” Ratchet grumbled as Alister and Alex came too.

“... somewhat,” Alister grunted as he tried to shake out the images he saw.

“I’m a bit satisfied, actually,” Alexander spoke up, a grim smirk on his face.  “There’s a bit of an analogy here that I feel is being represented literally as well as figuratively.”

“And that being…?” Alister and Ratchet asked.

“That Adrastos is trying to snuff out Red’s hope,” Alexander reckoned.  “Not just by sealing off his good memories and tormenting him with his bad ones, but by killing off the sentient constructs as well.  I say that because I have this feeling… that what Red used to grant you all sentience was his own Hope.  And I feel Adrastos knows this, too.  That’s why he wants you all dead, because if you all die, Red’s hope dies with you.”

“He did entrust us with his last chance, as it were.  Sucks that we didn’t know what to do with it,” Ratchet sighed.  “But, don’t try to stretch the metaphor too far.  Adrastos would have killed us off anyways, it’s the backup plan after all.  Kill everything that made Red human, and just create another killing machine.  After all, what do you suppose happens once every single person in his life is effectively erased from his memories?”

Alexander was about to give a reply, but at that moment he stopped himself due to a nagging feeling at the back of his head.  “Dammit, what was it that Umbris said about the Seal of Orichalcos…?  I remember him telling me once, but….”

“Then we’ll just have to defy all of Adrastos’ plans,” Alister cut in, not about to wait for Alexander to remember some particular detail.  “Red’s hopes and humanity--er… “dragunity”?  Whatever, those will remain alive as long as we do… … hmph, what’s taking him so long?” Alister blurted out as he stared over towards the castle.  “I’d think he’d have noticed us chilling out in the Town Square by now.”

“... are you trying to tempt fate here, Al?” Alexander worried.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am,” Alister replied bluntly.

“You know how it is you two,” Ratchet spoke up with a morbid smirk, “the villain never attacks until after the overly long cutscene.”

“Of course,” Alex and Alister droned in unison.

As if on cue, the Town Square swarmed with living shadows, the Creeps encircling the group as they merged together, forming a hodge podge of beast-like forms.  “Now would be a good time for Plan A!” Ratchet yelled as he held up the R.Y.N.O. V defensively.

“Plan A it is!” Alister cried out as he pumped a fist into the air.  “Left-Eye! Vortex Al! Sniffles! Alizure--!”

“JUST BRING EM ALL OUT!  DON’T BOTHER WITH NAMES!” Ratchet yelled as the 1812 Overture started playing as he blasted Shadow Creeps left right and center.

“... well, it’s not like we need to be discrete anymore,” Alister admitted.  “EVERYONE OUT~!!!”

The ground beneath them seemed to rumble as, at that moment, over thirty-thousand Altisters quickly filled the Town Square, many spilling over into the streets and alleyways.  The Shadow Creeps actually appeared to become hesitant for a moment, and even Alister was amazed at the turnout.  “Over thirty-thousand, huh?  That’s… a helluva lot better than I had hoped,” the General admitted humbly.  “Well then?” he yelled out toward his other selves.  “I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how to kick ass, so GET TO IT!!”

“Hang on,” Ratchet cut in, clapping his hands twice.

“Little backing music,” Ratchet grinned as the combined forces charged, smashing through the Shadow Creeps as they charged down the streets, the shadows being no match for the army as they smashed their way through. As they ran through the streets, Ratchet ran alongside Alister and Alex.  “Guys,” he began seriously, “when we get to the castle, go for the doors.  The rest of us memories will stay behind to take on the Creeps and the Golems.”

“Do be careful, Ratch,” Alexander said sincerely as he gave the memory a hug, quite the feat to pull off properly while running at full-speed.

“Yeah.  Try and stay alive until we make Adrastos a non-memory,” Alister agreed as he gave Ratchet a fist-bump.

“Before he died, our Alister relayed to me that the Throne Room isn’t too far into the castle.  That’s where Adrastos is.  Good luck guys,” Ratchet nodded as he melted into the wall of Altisters as they stormed the base of the castle.

The Golems had already been deployed, and they all were wielding nasty looking weapons made from Dark Gems.  “CHARGE!” Ratchet called, the Altisters dog-piling the Golems as Alister and Alex made it past them, running up the long steps and through the open doors.

The lombaxes were panting from all the cardio, so much so a stray shot put Alister’s fur on ends.  Further down the hall, Red was in a duel to the death with Adrastos.  They shared constant shots and blocks, until Red was knocked back ten feet, just a few away from the lombaxes.  Craning his head around, Red’s eyes went wide.  “Alister, and, uhh…, you?  What are you doing here?” he demanded as he shielded the three of them from a sphere of darkness.

“Saving your ass, that’s what!” Alister yelped out as he took the opportunity to take a few potshots at Adrastos from behind Red’s cover.

“Red, I thought you were trapped in here?” Alexander blurted out, confused by the current circumstances.  “And by that, I mean, like, “bound and gagged” sort of trapped.”

“I’ve been trapped in this wretched castle this entire time!  Your interference distracted him long enough to allow me to break his bonds.  NOW GET OUT OF HERE!  I don’t need your help, I can get this memory under control!” Red roared as he lowered the barrier, firing several pulses of light at Adrastos before raising the barrier again.

“But, Red--”

“--huh?  What’s up?” Alexander asked of something that was bouncing around in his satchel.  At that moment, a two-dimensional version of Alexander’s head poked out of the bag, glancing about.  “Hey, you shouldn’t be out!  Get back inside quickly!” Alexander gasped as he tried to get Flat-Alex back into his satchel.

“Alex, why is the malformed memory version of you in your bag?” Alister asked.

“I just figured PaRappa Alex could be of some help--what?  What is it?” Alexander demanded of his flat doppelganger, who was now fiercely fidgeting within the bag, showing off more strength than Alexander thought was within the construct's flat (and currently folded-up) body.

“----’- --- ---!” Flat-Alex mouthed wordlessly to Alexander, as he was without a voice of his own.  “--’- --------!  --’- -- --------!”

“It’s a what?” Alexander questioned, having a hard time reading the construct’s lips.

“It’s irrelevant,” Red snapped irritably, sighing loudly.  “Look, if you to want to help me, then run at him.  I’ll back you up defensively while you strike him physically.  He won’t be able to stand a full frontal assault, ~keff,” Red explained, lowering the barrier.

“And while we’re at it,” Alister said as he charged at Adrastos, “you might wanna do something about that… cough….”  Alister slowed to a crawl halfway as he realized, possibly too late, just who it was he was talking to.

Before the thoughts made it to completion, “Red” roared loudly as he appeared behind Alister, swinging his staff and catching Alister square in the back, launching him into a wall.  Turning to Alex, “Red” primed up a kick and punted him square in his gut, also sending him into a wall.  “Red” snickered loudly as his form melted away, revealing himself as Adrastos.  “Keff keff keff, you are so predictable Alister,” he jeered as he melted into shadows, the black shade running along the floor and out of the hallway as the other Adrastos faded away.

The two lombaxes groaned in pain as they struggled back to their feet.  “Dammit… how could we let ourselves be fooled…,” Alister cursed himself as he cricked his back.

Alexander was left coughing and gasping, having had the wind knocked out of him front the kick he had received.  As soon as his breathing was back to normal, he turned his attention to Flat-Alex, who was struggling to get out of the satchel that had been knocked out of Alex’s grasp.  “You were trying to warn me,” Alexander realized in a remorseful tone.  “You knew almost right away, didn’t you?  Ohh, I’m so sorry,” he apologized as he helped Flat-Alex out of the satchel, unfolding the construct before letting it stand upright.

“We should have realized Adrastos would pull something like this.  It’s exactly what Ratchet had warned us about, not too long ago even!” Alister rambled on in his displeasure. “I’m just surprised Flat-Alex here could see through Adrastos’ illusion.”

“I think it’s because he’s so unaware most of the time,” Alexander speculated.  “He could see through the illusion because he doesn’t even realize that there was one.”

“Tch, figures,” Alister gave a short chuckle as he cast a glance over at Flat-Alex.  ““Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.”  Guess you were right to bring him along after all, Alex,” the General admitted as he gave Flat-Alex a soft pat on the head.

“Though, it’s plenty unnerving that Adrastos knew perfectly how to manipulate us.  How much control does he actually have over Red to even know you perfectly?” Alex questioned as he also gave Flat-Alex a pat, the construct smiling warming from all the love he was feeling at that moment.

Alister crossed his arms as he proceeded to think.  “... maybe Red’s memories weren’t sealed off right away.  Maybe Adrastos browsed through Red’s memories before he sealed away the majority of them.  I mean, he would have had to in order to know which ones to seal and which ones to leave open, those being his bad memories.”

“Sounds about right,” Alex nodded.  “Adrastos looked through Red’s memories, saw the ones with you in them, and took notes.  That’s the only other way I could think of that makes sense.”

“Yeah, but, at least we’re on our guard now.  Adrastos made it clear he’s not playing around, except, he kinda is playing around.  Okay, semi-dead metaphor there, but, we’re ready for him now,” Alister nodded.

Alexander nodded in agreement, his flat doppelganger copying his movement.  “Right, but let’s tread carefully just to be on the safe side of things,” Alexander suggested.  “Who knows what other traps and such Adrastos will try to pull on us.”

“I don’t think he needs any more traps, honestly.  He’s already proven to himself that he’s smarter than us; if he’s as arrogant as those memories made him out to be, he knows that he won’t need subterfuge to beat us,” Alister admitted bitterly.

"I sure hope you're right, Al," Alexander sighed as he, his doppelgänger and the General hurried their way down the hall.

It wasn’t a long trip, or maybe, it was made intentionally short as they ran into a once-lavish throne room.  Darkness ruled the area as large clusters of Dark Gems poked through the walls, their dismal hum a choir for Adrastos as he sat on a throne clearly too big for him.  The Sorcerer was idly tapping his cheek as he watched them menacingly.  “So, you have come at last now vermin, ~keff.  I’ve been waiting quite patiently now,” he remarked in a polite tone.

"How's about we skip the pleasantries?" Alister sneered at the dark dragon.  "We all know why we're here, so why don't just cut to the--"

"AL!!" Alexander yelped, drawing the General's attention towards the far left side of the throne room; there, trapped within the Seal of Orichalcos, was Red.  He was standing only because of the large spires of green crystal that pierced his wings, keeping him upright if a bit staggered.  His eyes were closed, and he looked positively monstrous, much like the form he had currently taken externally.

“Funny, isn’t it?” Adrastos chuckled to himself as he also gazed wantonly at Red.  “Even in his own mind he sees himself as a monster.  It takes a lot of work to develop that much self-loathing, ~keff.”

"Tell me something I don't already know for myself," Alister snapped.  "Now let him go!"

“Okay, let me consider that for a moment,” Adrastos remarked, contemplating for about half a second, “no.”

“Welp, that’s one trope out of the way,” Alexander commented.  “How’s about we skip straight to the good part?  Adrastos, when you’re ready,” he declared as he and Alister assumed their combat stances.

“You’re tedious, to be perfectly frank,” Adrastos sighed as he removed his visor, revealing his piercing glare as he gazed at the two lombaxes.  “What will you actually do, might I inquire?  Even if you win, you can’t save him from the darkness, you see he-  Oh, oh wait a moment, I love this part,” Adrastos jabbered excitedly as he looked at Red.

He silently mouthed a countdown, counting down with his fingers until one was left, and he pointed it right at Red.  The dragon suddenly started screaming loudly, his blood-curdling screams piercing the tense moment for ten seconds flat, before going silent again.  “Ah ha ha ha!” Adrastos laughed merrily, “I love it when he does that.”

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!!” Alister shrieked at the dark dragon. (“Even though we all know you won’t,” he added in an aside.)

“Oh, come on now, I’m helping him Alister, ~keff.  I’m slowly trying to remind him who and what he is.  And what better way to do so than an endless loop of showing him what a terrible person he really is,” Adrastos grinned.

“That’s a load of shit, and you know that!” Alexander retorted, Flat-Alex once more mimicking his movements. “Even Red knows it, despite his constant insistence to the contrary!”

Adrastos chuckled to himself as he leant on his arm, sneering at Alex.  “If he wasn’t, then why did he accept the gift of the Dark Gem in the first place?  It’s common sense to know they’re a terrible thing, yet, he saw something in them.  He wasn’t afraid, and he opened his heart to the shadows.  He accepted it, and he knows he did.  He is a real monster, inside and out.”

“The only thing he could be guilty of is his curiosity getting the better of him,” Alister snapped.  “He only accepted that Dark Gem to study it, to discover ways to counteract them--”

“--oh, sure~ Alister.  And I’m sure you only accepted Percival Tachyon’s “help” because you thought his expertise would be a benefit to your kind,” Adrastos countered, verbally striking Alister below the belt.  “And you, of course, did so despite the warnings from your own best friend, funny that.  But, if you are so very adamant in your beliefs, why don’t we look to the past to sate your desire for the truth?” the Sorcerer suggested.

Slamming his staff into the ground, the room immediately took the form of a memory.  A much younger Red was staring with a mixture of annoyance and rage as he faced off against Titan.  “I still do not see why you Elders are so opposed to my request.  If we understand the Dark Gems, we could better learn how to deal with them properly, instead of just mindlessly crushing them,” Red said through strained death.

“They are not meant to be understood Red, Dark Gems have no place in our world.  They drain the very life from it and poison the minds of people.  They are better off a mystery to us,” Titan refuted.

“But if we can understand them, then maybe they could be useful to us.  You told me yourself that everything has its place, you TOLD me that.  Dark Gems are no different, aren’t they?  They have a place in our world as well.  If they didn’t, why are they even here?” Red insisted.

Titan’s eyes narrowed, the tranquil dots staring at Red in quiet contemplation.  “You will not be swayed?” Titan inquired.

“I will not,” Red declared.

“I see,” Titan said slowly, turning away from Red.  “Then, do what you will Red.  I will neither impede you, nor aid you any further,” the Elder sighed as he walked away, the memory fading with it.

“Now then, to see if you were paying attention, why do you suppose that event ended the way that it did?” Adrastos inquired curiously.

Alister was momentarily silent, somewhat numbed by the memory presented to them.  It truly was almost like seeing his own life played out before him, as he was reminded of the argument he had with Kaden.  “... he… he insisted that he was right,” Alister uttered in an admitting tone, as if he was also bringing his own failings to light.

“Ha ha, oh, no, not at all.  False dragons like themselves are always incredibly arrogant, naturally they insist they’re right.  Seems you weren’t paying attention, if you were, you would have paid attention to his eyes, like Titan had.  He could see it, you know?  He could see the greed hidden in Red’s eyes.  That lust and greed for power.  He could see that he had already lost Red, and wanted no hand further in his fall,” Adrastos explained.

“Because those were brought upon by the Dark Gem,” Alexander butt in once more.  “We already know that the Dark Gems can poison the mind and heart if exposed long enough, and… wait… I remember something about the Orichalcos,” Alexander realized.  “It makes sense now, really.  Both the Orichalcos and the Dark Gems intensify the darkness in one’s heart--”

“You’re missing the point rat,” Adrastos interjected, a knowing smile on his mug.  “That memory was before his research, before he had even interacted with a Dark Gem.  What Titan saw, that was all of Red’s lust for power, no manipulations at all.”

“... so, what,” Alister blurted out flatly with a shrug, “he got a little curious, which turned to ambition, which turned into going against his teachings, which turned to him, what, calling out to whomever he could--you, I’m willing to wager--to acquire a Dark Gem for his research, which led to you eventually kidnapping him and torturing him into being your servant?  Hmm?  You know, we can all stand around questioning Red’s moral compass and either demonize him or take pity on him until the space cows come home from the pasture.  You really think doing all of this will change my opinion of him, Adrastos?  Or are you really just stalling for time here? ‘cuz, quite frankly, I rather much get the inevitable fight underway, since the sooner we boot your ass outta here, the sooner we can deal with Red ourselves.”

“If you insist,” Adrastos shrugged, hopping off the throne, “I just felt like amusing myself for a while.  Seems you two are far too stupid to be deterred from what is simply a lost cause,” he said, shaking his head sadly.

“That all remains to be seen,” Alister replied in a calm tone hardly befitting of the situation at hand.  With the Z-Wrench in hand, Alister morphed his weapon into a pair of giant gauntlets, a white diamond shape embedded into the back of each.  “We grant you the first attack, Adrastos,” the General declared as he held up one of his gauntleted hands up in a “bring it” sign.

“Too kind, a fitting weakness,” Adrastos laughed humorlessly.


”The Battle for Red’s Soul”


The Sorcerer hissed loudly, his form melting into a shadow that split into four.  Each black shade slithered along the ground, three of them encircling the lombaxes while the other one slide up the walls.  Each formed into a perfect copy of Adrastos.  “DANCE FOR ME RATS!” the Adrastos on the roof called, funneling his power into the many Dark Gem clusters on the roof.  A web of thick purple beams criss-crossed the room, the other Adrastoses were jeering as they each channeled their own energy into a purple ring around the two. “DEVASTATE!” they called, the roof Adrastos taking their energy and firing an enormous beam at Alister and Alex while they were also avoiding the beams from the Dark Gems and the ring of purple energy.

“MIRROR WALL!” Alexander cried out as he strung his trap: a mirrored, almost crystalline  structure sprung up around the two lombaxes, encasing them within as the Adrastos Squad’s Dark Beams rebound off the reflective surface… or rather, the Beams struck the reflections of each Adrastos, causing the “physical” copies to reel back in pain as cracks formed along their bodies.  “Alister may have offered you the first attack,” Alexander explained, “but it certainly wasn’t the first move; I had this Trap set while Alister was monologuing a few paragraphs ago.”

Adrastos seethed as the three surrounding them shattered into fragments of Dark Gem, the real one losing his grip on the roof as he fell to the ground with a loud thump.  He growled loudly as he melted into shadows, circling around the barrier until he was in front of Red.  Glowing purple veins ran along Adrastos’ body as he pointed his staff as Red.  “Then, you’d best terminate that trap, and any others you may have set.  Or I end your quest early,” he threatened.

“Or~ I make you face us without the threats,” Alexander retorted as he gave a nod towards Alister, who gave a confident nod in return.  “I activate “Staunch Defender”!--”

“YOU ACTIVATE NOTHING!” Adrastos roared, slamming his staff into the ground.  Dark purple veins ran along Alex’s duel disk and cards, shattering into particles.  “You forget one important fact you mongrels, ~keff!  Only you are real, everything else you’ve brought with you is just a memory, and they are my dominion.  Care to try your silly little toys again rat?  Oh wait, you cannot, ~keff.  It just exploded.”

“Mr. Zurkon would like to play.” 

Before Adrastos could cease his own gloating, he found himself tightly gripped around the torso by Alister’s Z-Gauntlet.  With a smirk, Alister chucked the dark dragon into a nearby column, and more importantly, away from Red.  “Good thing Mr. Zurkon has enough sentience to join us here, then,” Alister barked.  “And unlike Alexander’s cards, you won’t be able to get rid of him that easily.”

“Hmph,” Adrastos grunted from the rubble of the column.  He was completely unharmed as he dusted himself off, his staff reforming in his grasp. “That was almost mildly harmful,” Adrastos commented idly, rubbing some dust off his ruby.  “Allow me to present to you how it is done,” he declared, slamming his staff into the ground. Enormous jagged shards of Dark Gem burst around the lombaxes, sealing them in as more shards started protruding from the ground beneath their feet. “Dance rats dance!”

“Welp, ya’ heard ‘im, Al,” Alexander replied with an almost nonchalant shrug as the two proceeded to avoid the Dark Spikes coming up from the floor, Alexander doing so with some agile dance-like maneuvers.  Meanwhile, Alister switched the Z-Wrench to Dual Blaster Mode and got right to work blasting away Spikes as he dodged them. Adrastos chuckled as he slammed his staff, the Dark Gems shattering into a storm of shrapnel around them.

Although this put Alexander into a brief panic, he quickly thought up a defensive measure: “Aeroga!”  Spinning in place with his arms spread outwards, Alexander unleashed a short, yet powerful, gust of wind, blowing away the surrounding shrapnel before it could do any significant damage.  And we say “significant” here because, while the worst case scenario was avoided, some damage was done anyway, as a Dark Gem shard made a light cut along Alister’s right upper arm.  Still, with their immediate threat dispelled, Alexander proceeded to form a small, gumball-sized orb of light at the end of each of his fingertips.  “Pearl!” he called out as he swung his hands towards Adrastos, firing off all ten orbs of light at the dark dragon.

Adrastos swung his staff, encasing each pearl in their own little barrier of darkness, their light fading away to feed the night.  The Sorcerer laughed as he unleashed a ribbon of dark smoke; it snaked all about the area, until it wrapped itself tightly around Alister’s cut.  “Grow my creation!” Adrastos shouted as large bumps formed underneath the dark bandage..

Alister growled out in pain as the dark infection began to slowly spread throughout his arm, jagged Dark Shards sprouting from the cut.

“Alister!” Alexander gasped out, realizing what had happened as he dashed over toward the General, a healing Spell forming in the palms of his hands as he hoped to dispel the infection, or at least hinder it.  He reached a hand for the cut on Alister’s arm just as he reached him--

*KER-PAFF!!*

--and quickly found his face as the recipient of a fist to his face, knocking him back a few feet away as he tried to keep himself from falling onto the floor.  “GAH!  Alister, what the--?!”

“--Alex, I’m sorry!” Alister gasped out, panting as he could feel the infection continue to spread throughout his arm, the fur covering it taking on a shade of purple.  “I-I didn’t mean to--*TWITCH*--to… to leave you conscious…!”

Alexander gasped upon seeing Alister’s right eye briefly flash purple and black, the General’s voice taking on a sinister tone during that time.  Alister, too, gasped as he vigorously shook his head.  “Wait, what’s… oh no,” Alister panted horrifiedly.

Adrastos laughed wickedly, stroking his ruby as if it were a phallic symbol.  “But that is how you feel my sweet, new pet.  The Dark Gems bring out your more admirable qualities, pushing aside tedium like honesty and decency, to allow your true character to come forth.  You feel it now, don’t you?  You feel the darkness eating away at the weaker parts of your very soul, to allow only the stronger, more powerful parts of you to remain.  They will eat away at that weak, do-gooder nature of yours, bringing back the bloodthirsty monster who would even murder his own godson to get his own way.  Excellent job on that, by the way,” Adrastos grinned evilly.

“You… think you can control me…?!” Alister hissed at Adrastos, his right eye flashing purple once more as anger began to well up inside of him.  “You’re a damned idiot if you think I’ll be anything like Red was to you!!”

“Alister--!”

“STAY OUT OF THIS, ALEX!!” Alister roared at his fellow lombax. “Or would you rather I REALLY knock you out this time?!”  The General shot a most heinous glare at Alexander, almost as if he wanted to burn a hole right through his head.  “I am here for a reason, and I will not tolerate you getting in my way!  I swore I would free Red from this nightmare of his, and if I have to immerse myself in the deepest darkness in order to do so, then SO BE IT!!!  Now, make yourself useful and stay out of my way, Alexander!”

“Alister, they’re not real,” Alexander stated desperately.  “Those Dark Gems are just constructs, figments of memory; they can’t corrupt you because they’re not real!”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, foolish rat, ~keff,” Adrastos snickered.  “The Dark Gems don’t need to be the ones to corrupt an individual; I am more than capable of doing that myself.  And you forget, too, that as long as you are here, I rule this mindscape.  I can make everything here every bit as “real” as I want it to be, much like those pitiful children’s playing cards you seem ever so fond of, ~keff!  So you’d best learn what is real, and what is not rodent, as the very real reality right now is that your friend will be corrupted to his core, and then, he will become one more agent for me to use in reality.”

“USE THIS!!!” Alister shrieked as he charged at Adrastos, the Z-Wrench now in Buster Mode as he began to furiously slash at the dark dragon from every angle he could, the ever-growing darkness inside him fueling his rage.  Adrastos, however, deftly dodged each of Alister’s slashes with very little effort or care, using a brief opening to knock Alister aside, yet the General was quickly back on his feet as he then switched to Dual Cable Mode, a long whip-like cable attaching itself to each wrist.  He continued his assault, swinging the thick cords in wide arcs in a bid to knock the dragon senseless.

“Alister, you have to stop!!” Alexander frantically called out.  “The more you struggle, the quicker the infection will spread--!”

“I said, “SHUT UP”!!” Alister roared as he swung back, the whip-cord barely missing Alex as the other lombax dove to the floor to avoid being hit.

“Take your own advice rat!” Adrastos barked, melting into shadow mist that bolted straight past Alister, Adrastos reforming behind him. Swivelling his staff between two fingers, the ruby faded away as the top of the staff widened, allowing Adrastos to lock it around Alister’s neck, a complete collar forming around the front.  “KNEEL TO YOUR MASTER!” the Sorcerer screamed as dark lightning surged through the collar.

Alister howled in agonized pain, his body spasming as the dark lightning ran all throughout his being.  The shock lasted for about fifteen seconds, after which Alister stood firmly, slightly shaken yet still standing tall, as he shot Adrastos a defiant glare. “Never…,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“... what did you just…?!” Adrastos scowled, his eyes and nostrils flaring at Alister’s show of willful defiance.  “You are MINE dog.  I SAID KNEEL!” he screamed, sending another shock through the collar.

Alexander watched on in horror as the dragon continued to torture Alister, and yet, even with the second dose of electricity, Alister held firm, adamantly refusing to utter any further sounds of pain purely to spite Adrastos.  “There’s… only… one way…,” Alister grunted amidst the shock in his system, “... that I’ll… EVER kneel… to the likes… of you…!”

“And WHAT,” Adrastos snapped back, “pray tell, is THAT?”

“... SUCK… MY… DIIIIIIIIICK!!!!!”  With the Z-Wrench’s Dual Cable Mode still attached to his wrists, Alister swung an electrified whip-cord at Adrastos, the end of the cord popping the dark dragon smack dab in the center of his forehead.  Adrastos yelped in pain as he was briefly shocked, gripping his forehead as he stumbled backwards, releasing the staff.  With a furious roar Alister broke it clean from his neck, and snapped the golden rod over his knee.  “You still want me at my most bloodthirsty, huh?!” Alister taunted, shrugging off the voltage as he glared at Adrastos, his mouth twisted between a scowl and a wide grin.  “Well,  DARLIN’, HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU!!” Switching the Z-Wrench to Rocket Mallet Mode, Alister charged at the still disoriented Adrastos, slugging the dragon with a rocket-powered swing against the temple and sending him hurtling through three columns.

“Alister!” Alexander called out as he ran towards the General.  “Al, are you alright--?”

Alex found himself silenced by Alister’s dagger-like glare, his right eye seemingly stuck on purple-and-black as even the right half of his head now sported dark-purple stripes.  “You’ve been standing around this whole time…,” Alister sneered calmly at his fellow lombax, “worrying over my well-being when you could have been checking on Red.  Now, I’m going to tell you this as calmly and as nicely as this infection will allow me… PLEASE, CHECK ON RED, NOW.  I will continue to deal with Adrastos in the meantime, and if--IF!--I happen to require whatever assistance you can pull out of your ass, I will try to remember to call for you.  Now, GO,” Alister finished with an air of finality as he forced his hoverboots into overdrive, rocketing himself towards wherever Adrastos laid within the rubble.

“... well, at least he’s holding up,” Alexander sighed out as he ran over towards Red, still trapped within the Seal of Orichalcos.  “Red!  Red, wake up!” Alexander pleaded with the partly-comatose dragon as he was blocked from going any further by the green barrier. There was not much response from the dragon, aside from his ten second long screaming fit.

Adrastos coughed loudly as he staggered out of the rubble of the columns, his hood fallen back as a long cut ran along his cheek.  He was panting from his repressed rage as his black eyes glared at Alister.  “I have to give you credit, you are certainly quite competent when you’re angry.  And if it is any consolation to you… that hurt like hell,” he sneered as he stared into Alister’s eyes, and he paused.  Adrastos’ relatively calm demeanour turned into absolute fury as he stared into Alister’s eyes.  “It’s the same look,” he hissed furiously.  “That’s the same look the whelp gave me!”

“Right before he gave you the ass-whipping of a lifetime, I bet,” Alister darkly chuckled.  “Rest assured, the one I’m gonna be giving you won’t leave you with much of a lower body once I’m done!  Or an upper body, for that matter!”  Holding the Z-Wrench up, Alister configured it into a fear-inducing shape, the kind of fear most living beings instinctively expressed when confronted with such a monstrosity: the RYNO VII.

“Ohhhhh~ shit,” Alexander uttered in numb shock.  “He’s looking to level this whole castle with that thing.  RED!!  Hurry and snap out of it!!  Please!!” Alexander went back to pleading with the imprisoned dragon.

“YOU CAN’T HELP HIM FOOL!” Adrastos roared loudly. “He is trapped in his own waking nightmare, an endless cycle of his own foul memories.  Every loop he grows weaker and weaker as his will and hope evaporate.  Soon, so very soon, there will be nothing left but an empty shell.  An empty shell that will be the vehicle for the shadows!  You cannot stop it, you cannot end the wheel of fate he is tied to.  It is his one and only destiny, and destiny,” Adrastos declared, re-addressing Alister, “cannot be changed…!!!  Still?  You still give me that same look?  That is getting on my nerves rat!”

“And your incessant rambling is getting on mine!” Alister spat as he pistol-whipped Adrastos across the face with the RYNO VII.  “Now, I’m going to give you ‘til the count of 3 to release Red from his nightmares or I’ll--ehh, screw it, I’ll just do it anyway,” Alister shrugged before pulling the trigger, “Night on Bald Mountain” blaring as the RYNO VII bombarded Adrastos with a hail of bullets and missiles.

“Pathetic,” Adrastos sighed, an idle snap of his fingers unleashing a powerful wave that obliterated the ammo and knocked Alister back twenty feet.  “This has been my last straw,” Adrastos muttered despondently as he casually strolled to the center of the room.  “There are so many things I could stomach, ~keff.  But that look, the look of that disrespectful young whelp, showing off his defiance, as if he were proud of it.  No, noooo, I will not have that.  This has been the final straw, and I will now destroy you both in my true form!” Adrastos declared, darkness billowing around him as he was entrapped in a whirling vortex of darkness. “Darkness has so many faces, allow me…, to present to you one of the more terrifying sorts!” Adrastos declared as the vortex dissipated, revealing his true form to his foes.  His talons rent the ground, carving deep pits in the stone as his endlessly empty eyes stared into the lombaxes’ very souls.  “You will not be allowed to die until I have had my vengeance, I promise you that!”

“So, we’re going to live,” Alexander snarked.  “That’s very reassuring.”

“Which is more than we shall say for you, Adrastos,” Alister snarled darkly as he and Alexander resumed their stances.

“You misunderstand, it seems--”

“No, we understood perfectly what you meant,” Alister barked.  “You, on the other hand, seem somewhat incapable of detecting Alexander’s sarcasm.  I mean, that’s pretty fuckin’ weak.  The only one here who’s going to fall is you, Adrastos, whether you get your quote-unquote “vengeance” or not, I promise you that!”

“Same,” Alexander shrugged flatly.

On that note, “Night on Bald Mountain” began to blare once more as Alister held down the Trigger of the RYNO VII-Z, unleashing a storm of bullets and missiles Adrastos’ way.  Alexander, meanwhile, took the time to prepare a spell of his own, whispering an incantation as he focused his mana.  Adrastos’ face was blank as every shot impacted harmlessly on his scales, not even a scratch was left in them as his lips curled into a sinister smile. “Did you truly believe that your pitiful little weapon could harm me?  The first and only son of Necron?!  If so, then you are the greatest of fools!” he boasted as he slit the palm of his hand, purple blood leaking from the wound.

“For once, Mr. Zurkon feels… inadequate,” Mr. Zurkon spoke through the RYNO VII-Z, which comically proceeded to go limp.

“Wait… “first and only son of…”?!” Alexander gasped out, his concentration broken as the realization hit him upon remembering what Ratchet had told them earlier.  “Alister, look out!  Adrastos is about to--!”

“--about to DIE!!” Alister roared as he switched the Z-Wrench to Buster Mode once more, taking a flying leap as he prepared to cut the dark dragon down his the giant plasma blade.

Adrastos scoffed as he scattered his blood in a large splatter around him, the purple fluid moving into an intricate seal around him.  “Necron, my father.  Grant me your strength, and your rage.  So that I may annihilate all who oppose the darkness!” Adrastos preached loudly.

Alister was knocked clean away as a burning purple aura surrounded Adrastos, the dark dragon roaring loudly as the aura enveloped him, his eyes burning with black flames as the aura form over his claws and wings, making him look more like a demon than a dragon.  He roared loudly, his wings flaring as a powerful gust blew, knocking the lombaxes back even farther.  “Now I am complete, and I will carry out my father’s will.  Your deaths are now a foregone conclusion, as where you are going… there is no LIGHT!” he declared, darkness spreading throughout the room, sending them all into an endless abyss of darkness.

“... well, this isn’t good,” Alexander uttered to himself, the pitch-black darkness making it very difficult to tell what was right from what was up.  “And once again, I find myself wondering if we’ll keep getting start in perpetually dark situations….”  Taking slow, steady steps, Alexander attempted to make his way through the darkness.  He tried to cast another Pearl spell to see if it could help illuminate his surroundings, but found that the darkness cast by Adrastos was even more oppressive against the light than the darkness of Death Path, the small Pearls shattering within a second of being conjured.  “Figures….”  As much as Alexander wanted to call out for Alister, something in the back of his head told him that doing so would be unwise, lest Adrastos strike him during his frantic searching.  Hell, Alexander figured, what’s stopping him from attacking now?  Finding no other option, Alexander focused on his hearing as he simply stood still, biding his time for if-and-when Adrastos would make his next move.

Alister, on the other hand, was furiously stopping through the darkness.  “Hiding in the darkness… damned coward,” Alister seethed as he scanned through the pitch-black darkness for any sign of the dark dragon, to no avail.  “What’s the matter Adrastos?!” Alister hissed loudly.  “Couldn’t take me on in a real fight, so you brought up this darkness as a handicap?  Or are you just preparing for bedtime?!  C’mere, and I’ll put you to sleep!”  The General continued to ignore the pain in the right half of his body as his fury kept him going.

A cruel chuckle came from all around him, or rather, beneath him.  Alister staggered back in disgust as Adrastos’ enormous eye formed beneath his feet, the giant pupil staring at him.  “I AM the darkness, Alister.  And soon, so will you and Red.  A fitting end for fools like yourselves.  So enraptured in your ideals and “good intentions” you fail to see you’re doing nothing but harming everything, and everyone around you.  How fitting that you should both die as the murderers of your own species.”

“Oh, not this shit again,” Alister growled under his breath.  “You honestly think that continuously reminding me of what I’ve done is going to have any sort of effect on me right now?  Hate to break it to you, buddy, but the Death Path beat you to it!”

“Ha ha!  Oh, you miss the point.  As foolish as you are, I cannot help but show my admiration.  My only regret is that Red beat me to the punch in regards to ending every single one of those false dragons.  I suppose the silver medal can still be mine… by ending him.”

Alister couldn’t help but to scoff.  “”False dragons”, he says--ARE YOU LISTENING TO YOURSELF?!  The only “false” dragon here is the memory construct passing himself off as real, and don’t give me that “I-Rule-Everything-Here” bullshit, makes you sound like a fucking try-hard.  But, y’know what, I’m feeling generous right now, so you can go ahead and tell me just why you consider yourself to be a “real dragon”.”

“It is simple.  All dragons born of the usurpers, those false dragons who believe themselves true dragons.  It is pitiful to assume they are the truth when Necron was the first, and only true Ancestor.  Death and Darkness came first, as it should.  And yet those elementals who stole Necron’s appearance claim their own status as a dragon…, absurd.  But, these are facts and matters you wouldn’t truly be able to understand.  You aren’t a dragon, false or otherwise.  How could you understand their thoughts and feelings when you couldn’t even leave well enough alone for the simple sake of cleaning your own bloodstained conscience?!  You say your care, but if you cared then you would respect a person’s wishes.  I care nothing for other beings, and even I can understand that fact.”

“Right now, all I care about is getting rid of you!” Alister shouted at Adrastos, his right eye flashing purple as he glared at the eye staring up at him, while his left eye began to cry, the tears tinged with an opaque, sickly dark purple.  “Was I truly that selfish to want to save Red?  Knowing what I know now, could I have been hurting Red this whole time?”  Those were the thoughts running through the uncorrupted portions of Alister’s mind as his body continued to radiate his pent-up hatred.

“I can see the hesitation, you know it, don’t you rat?  You kept pushing it, pushing and pushing and pushing.  Trying to work your way into his heart, when all you did was drive that Dark Gem further into his body.  You could have let him fall to the darkness in peace.  Let him fade away like a dream.  But instead you chose to hurt him, driving him to madness until his frail heart couldn’t take it anymore.  You know it, don’t you?  You know that because of your selfish actions, you weakened him enough to let me out.  I suppose I should thank you for your reckless selfishness, as it made it all the more easier for me to take control.  He would have fought it to his last breath, but you were the last nail that buried him alive.”

“He’s right… all I’ve ever done was hurt the ones I have ever cared about--” “--No, shut up…!” Alister growled as he smacked the left side of his head, trying to quiet the voice in his head while still trying to defiantly oppose Adrastos.  “Y-You know nothing--!” “--but it’s true… Red, Kaden, Ratchet, Alex… I’ve hurt them, I keep hurting them--” “--it doesn’t matter, as long as I make things right--!” “--and when will you realize that “making things right” isn’t ever going to be enough?  No matter how many times you try to fix something, there will always be something that shows it was once broken--” “--I don’t CARE!!  I… I just don’t want to--” “--”don’t want to fail”?  That’s exactly what all the other Alisters said once, wasn’t it?  And yet look at where they all are now!  All of them have died because they wanted to “fix” their problems, and yet they either made it worse, or never got the chance!  And right now, you’re looking to become just another one of them.  Just another failure….”

Adrastos chuckled softly as shadowy claws started to slide up Alister’s legs, entangling him in his madness.  “You are weakening… soon you will be just another puppet of the shadows.  It is a great honour, and in due time, I will turn you into something far more befitting of that nature.  You will make a fine being of shadows, in fact, why wait?  Let’s begin now, and fill that little mind of yours with darkness, and create a mental image worthy of it.  I think you will look quite nice with some longer claws and some sharper teeth.  You will make quite a good dog.”

"... So, this is how it goes...," Alister thought to himself as the shadowy claws continued to wrap around his entire being.  "This... is how I die.  Again.  I just... I'm sorry, everyone...."

“NOT TODAY!”

Adrastos let out an inhuman shriek as a burst of light destroyed the web surrounding Alister.  The dark dragon howled in fury as a much younger looking Elder Titan blew through into the darkness, his Light Gem burning away the shadows.  “HOW?!  You were destroyed!  And every single one of those… !!!” Adrastos gasped, his pupil shrinking as he realized something horrifying.  “That memory, it’s unsealed.  You…!  YOU!  You distracted me long enough for that damaged seal to come undone, and now you let him out!  AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!” Adrastos screamed furiously.

A knowing smile crept along Alexander's face.  "Yep.  T'was only a matter of time," he replied, his Signer Mark shining within the darkness while Red Dragon Archfiend hovered above him.

Titan chuckled as he landed by Alex, a friendly hand on his shoulder.  “Seems like you’re the one I should be thanking for my freedom,” he said appreciatively.  “I’m Titan, and you are?”

“The name’s Alexander,” Alex replied as he shook one of Titan’s talons, “and really, I should thank you, too, for helping Alister.”

“I couldn’t let Red’s friend go down the same path Alex,” Titan smiled, though his determined eyes were only half-staring at Alex, as the rest of his attention was on Alister.  “Looks like he has a little Dark Shard problem.”

"Guh... "Little", nothing," Alister grunted as he struggled to his feet.  "I... yeah, I-I need help," he said meekly as he gripped at his right arm, some of the protruding Dark Gems shattered from Titan's attack.

“Help him you cannot memory.  I do not go through all the effort of crushing beings just for one little hope spot to bring them back up again,” Adrastos huffed as his form emerged from the shadows, the shadowy aura all around him.  “Typical he was lucky enough to break the seal on the only memory that had you do anything Titan!  But that memory has already been sealed back up, think you can save the lombax before I end you?” he jeered.

“I’ll let the fate given to me by the Ancestors decide that,” Titan declared, unleashing a flashbang from his gem.

Adrastos squealed again, retreating back into the shadows as Titan moved quite fast, snagging Alister in one hand before retreating into the much brighter area.  Planting his staff into the ground, Titan assessed the damage.  “It’s deeply rooted, and with all this darkness around the gems are agitated.  I’m not sure if I can fix this,” he grimaced.

"Okay, really starting to not feel so hot," Alister panted in a raspy tone, noticing his wound beginning to seep a disgusting dark purple bile.

At that moment, a rather blocky-looking fellow ran up to Titan and the lombaxes.  It hopped up and down happily, apparently overjoyed to see Titan again, along with some other reason.  “What on earth is that?” Titan gasped, briefly taken aback by the blocky figures abrupt appearance.

“Wait, is that…?” Alexander uttered as he got a better look at the figure.  “... wait, it is!  That’s Flat-Alex!  Except he’s, uhh, not so flat anymore.”  And indeed, it was Flat-Alex, having apparently graduated from flat cardboard cutout to blocky PS1-Era graphics.  “How’d he get like that, though?  Did the unsealing of that memory have something to do with it?”

“Who cares! I’m hurting here!!” Alister snapped.  “Ow, I mean… please help.”

"Right, sorry, Al," Alexander blurted out as he placed a gentle hand on the General's shoulder.  "Curaja!"  A bright glow began to envelop Alister's body, the color of his fur returning to normal as he body gradually healed, save for the area around his wound.  "Well, that didn't get rid of it, but it's a start."

Titan frowned despondently, knowing full well what he had to do.  “Grit your teeth boy, this is going to hurt a lot,” he warned, gripping the cluster tightly.  Pressing Alister’s arm down, Titan tugged brutally, ripping the gems from Alister’s arm.  Alister howled in pain through gritted teeth as he felt the jagged crystals being quickly torn through and out of his flesh.  He was left trembling as the cluster had been removed, leaving a gaping hole in his upper bicep.  Titan crushed the gems in his hand, the constructs disappearing as he dropped them from his hand. From a small pouch Titan removed some sparkling powder, and pinched it into Alister’s wound.  “Powdered Light Gem, to counteract the Splinters.  You were lucky that the shards hadn’t integrated with your bones yet.”

“Yeah… lucky…,” Alister uttered in a feeble tone, glancing down at the slowly healing wound before turning to look Alexander in the eyes.  “Alex, I’m--”

“It’s fine, Al,” Alexander interrupted Alister’s apology, a slight forgiving smile on his face.  “You weren’t exactly yourself at the time.”  Placing a hand over Alister’s wound, Alexander cast yet another Curaja Spell.  “Here, sit tight for a moment.  I’d like to give Adrastos here a piece of my mind,” he said as his expression became much more fierce.

His fierce expression turned to surprise as Titan shoved him aside, a red beam of energy piercing through the dragon’s chest.  The Elder staggered backwards, large burnt out hole in his chest as he collapsed backwards, his staff clattering to the ground.  “Well, at least I renewed his hope… even for a little while.  That’s good enough for me,” Titan smiled as he evaporated.

Adrastos rolled his eyes as he glared at his remaining two foes.  “Apologies for ruining such a tender moment, but it appears you forgot momentarily that I happen to exist.  And doing so is a very foolish thing,” he snarled lividly.

Alexander stared down at the spot where Titan had expired, a knot forming in his throat.  The grief he felt at that moment quickly made way for fury as the lombax clutched his fists tightly, his eyes flashing a brilliant crimson as he turned to glare at the dark dragon.  “In the light of the heavens, I stand,” Alexander began to recite in a reverberating tone, “and call out to that which opens the Gates of Hell.  May Judgment come forth as God’s Lightning!”  As Alexander recited his chant, Adrastos found himself surrounded in a column of arcane glyphs that reached up towards the sky.  “This ends, here and now!  INDIGNATION!!”  In an instant, lightning struck down upon where Adrastos stood.

Adrastos stood there blankly as the lightning struck him, voltage running along his body as he wasn’t even remotely perturbed by that.  “Are you quite finished?” he questioned in a mildly annoyed tone.

“He withstood it?!” Alexander gasped to himself, briefly taken aback yet not deterred.  With his gameface on once again, Alexander called out to his patiently-waiting Signer Dragon.  “Red Dragon Archfiend, strike Adrastos with Absolute Power Force!”  With a fierce roar, the crimson-and-black dragon charged forth, it’s right hand enveloped in a burning red aura before proceeding to throw a haymaker at Adrastos.

Adrastos reared up on his hind legs, darkness curling around his own fingers as he struck with his own fist, connecting with RDA’s.  An enormous sonic boom blew everything bar the combatants away as their fists remained locked, Adrastos staring intensely at the opposing dragon as neither side refused to give.  That was, until Adrastos opened his mouth and unleashed a torrent of black flames straight at RDA.  The Signer Dragon roared in discomfort as the flames assailed its body, still trying to hold firm against the black inferno until Adrastos proceeded to fire a black explosion at RDA’s torso, finally forcing the Signer Dragon to stumble and crash down on its back.  “Oh-no,” Alexander gasped out rasply, feeling rather fatigued due to his connection to the Red Dragon Archfiend.

“Another false dragon attempting to pretend it’s real, how pitiful.  It’s ironic actually, that that thing of yours looks like Red, funnily enough.  Just as well it’s as pathetic as he is,” Adrastos taunted as he returned to being on all-fours.

Alexander snarled alongside RDA, his green eyes now taking on a crimson shade as a circular dragon mark now shone on his chest.  “You would dare claim superiority over a Servant of the Crimson Dragon…?” Alexander sneered in a voice unlike his own, apparently channeling the thoughts of Red Dragon Archfiend itself, who was currently struggling to its feet.

Adrastos chuckled loudly at the bumbling buffoon of a beast.  “I do indeed you foul replica.  Only I, the son of Necron have any true claim to being a dragon.  You are but a mere of shadow of his, or my greatness.  Even now you stagger about from the weakest of breaths!”

“Granted, I was not at my strongest,” RDA admitted, still speaking through Alexander.  “However, I had taken note of how you struggled before your “cheap shot” as the mortals would put it.  As mighty as you claim to be, “O Truest One”, even you have your weaknesses, and I intend on seeing you fall by my hand!”

“Heh,” Adrastos chuckled, idly checking at his nails.  “Maybe so, but, you forget one important factor wretch.  I sense that you are of the darkness too, and the darkness could never hope to defeat its master.  So tell me, how do you propose to win when you cannot even harm me?”

“You are mistaken,” RDA retorted.  “I may wield the hellish powers of the Burning Abyss, but that does not make me one of the darkness, nor does it make you my “Master”.  There is but one who truly has the right to be called my Master, and that is blah blah blah blah blah--”

By then Adrastos had stopped listening, his tail discretely melting into the darkness as the dragon kept going, unawares as the blades edge re-emerged behind Alex.  The golden blade twisted into a long golden blade, aimed for the small of Alexander’s back.  Adrastos’ eyes barely even flickered as his tail lunged at the lombax, the ruby tipped blade aiming to just end his tedious monologuing.

“Alex!”  Alexander snapped out of his connection with RDA upon hearing Alister’s distressed cry, turning around just in time to see Adrastos’ bladed tail mere milliseconds away from piercing through him… but it never came.  The tail struggled to get close enough to Alex to even touch him, yet something was keeping it from doing so, and Alexander was in complete shock upon seeing just what that “something” was:

The polygonal Memory Alex had his blocky, minimally-detailed hands gripped around the base of Adrastos’ disembodied tail, pulling back with more strength than anyone in the room could ever have possibly imagined he would have.  “Let go of me, you malformed abomination!” Adrastos barked, another tail growing out of the first, this time a scythe blade aimed at Flat-Alex’s neck.  Without mercy he swung, cleaving Flat-Alex’s head clean off his body (not entirely hard to do, as the polygonal shapes of Flat-Alex’s body seemed connected mostly by a bizarre magnetism.  Still rather horrific, mind, as will be mentioned in the next paragraph).

Alexander was silent, horrified as he watched Flat-Alex’s head float off in the air, the rest of his body falling apart into a pile of blocks on the floor.  A look of serenity was on Flat-Alex’s face as his head sailed off into the darkness, his lips unmoving as a voice echoed in Alexander’s mind: “Even as I die, I’m happy.  Happy to have known who and what I was truly supposed to be.  My life had meaning, having met you.  And even as I am just a memory, I will always treasure you, and am glad to have known you, Alexander.  Farewell, my friend….”  The head disappeared in a puff of smoke as the rest of Flat-Alex dissolved.

“What a sad and tedious sentiment,” Adrastos griped, having also been privy to that drawl as he continued trying to kill Alexander, yet once more found his attempts foiled as his tail(s) were snatched up by an irate Red Dragon Archfiend.

“... so, tell me, Adrastos,” Alexander uttered in a calm tone, “what exactly do you know of loss?”

“Come again?” Adrastos questioned, wondering where that even came from.

“... because from what I can tell, you have very little experience in that field,” Alexander speculated, tears falling from his fiercely focused eyes.  “The only sort of “loss” you know of is that of your father, and even then it’s only an indignant feeling of loss.  Really, all that’s there in your heart is hatred and apathy towards the “false dragons” that “took your father away” before you were even born--”

“And you think I should feel HAPPY that my only kin was stolen away from me?” Adrastos snorted indignantly.

“On the contrary; you may actually have every right to be angry at the Ancestors for killing your father, regardless of whether such action on their part was justified or not.  But to take it out on every other dragon in existence just for being descended from the other Ancestors?  That’s borderline psychotic, don’t you think?” Alexander asked of Adrastos, all while a somewhat bored RDA began to toy around with Adrastos’ tail(s) by using it to play Cat’s Cradle.

“I honestly don’t care, really.  Every spark of an Ancestor lies in the souls of their descendents.  As far as I am concerned, that is good enough for me.  I’m sure you yourself know the pain, after all, you didn’t spend time in a mental hospital simply because you lost a shiny red ball… did you, Alexander?” Adrastos questioned, his glowing eyes narrowed knowingly.

“Oh, good, you actually bothered to look up my name,” Alexander snarked.  “And while I don’t appreciate you peering into my memories, I will admit that I did at one point wish to take vengeance on the ones responsible for my own father’s murder… and the murder of my friend at said mental hospital, as well.  But that’s where the similarity between you and I ends, for I chose not to let vengeance be what defines my life, while you’ve spent the entirety of yours fostering hatred for the other dragons.  But, hey, why stop at just the dragons, right?  You would get rid of just about any other species if they so much as crossed your path, right?  Truly the hallmark of a homicidal maniac if ever there was one.  You’re like the Nazi Army of Dragons, an Army of One at that.”

“I don’t see your point, that is the duty of the Black Dragons.  To destroy everything else.  I’ve ended many different worlds as a part of that duty, and will continue to follow it until my very far away end.  It is an endless cycle I intend to break by obliterating everything.”

“Including yourself, eventually?”

“Well, with nothing left to destroy, I might as well. My duty would be fulfilled, and I could rest knowing my father was avenged.”

“I’m sure he would be very proud…,” Alexander replied as sarcastically as possible.  “... still, you’ve never once asked why I’ve risked my own life coming here to help free Red from your clutches.  Aren’t you at least a teensy bit curious to know?”

“Because you have dragon magic now, and you were required as Alister needed to piggyback off of you to even make it in here,” Adrastos yawned loudly.

“That too, but it’s a bit more than that.  Even if Alister could enter this mindscape on his own, I would have joined him in his endeavor anyway.  Now, why would I, if I don’t share as strong a connection with Red as he does with Alister or Ratchet?”

“If I could take the most educated, the most basic of guesses, you are a bleeding heart, much like your friend.  It’s a commonality between those who claim to be “good” people.  They always care too much.  Sad that you risk your life for a fool’s errand,” Adrastos answered bluntly.

Alexander’s eye twitched a bit upon hearing Adrastos’ blunt answer.  “... it’s because, the moment I first met him, I managed to feel the good in him,” Alexander retorted.  “The moment I placed my hand on his head to pet him, I caught a glimpse at his heart; though troubled and clouded with doubt and uncertainty, the light in his heart was strong.  His heart was in the right place despite his affiliation with the Divine, and despite the sins of his own past.  Sure, it took me a while to get past that Bad Guy act he was playing at, but the moment that ended I saw that my first impression of him was right all along.  That’s the main reason why I am here, to help ensure that Red has a life worth living, especially one that he can live without you!”

“HA HA HA!  Oh, that is so very tragic sounding.  Maybe I should start a count on how many tedious, long-winded heroic speeches I hear.  Maybe I’ll write them down, so when I’m feeling low I can read them again and laugh!  Do you honestly think it that easy?  Do you?  You don’t quite get the gravity of all of this; scars don’t heal, not completely.  There is always a marking to remind you that it’s there.  What was done to him will never be forgotten, ever.  He knows it well, as you only saw his heart, but you never saw his soul, did you?  It’s stained forever, a foul black mark left by the Dark Gems and I that will serve as a constant reminder of his actions until the day he dies.  He will never have a sound life ever again.  He will always be afraid of the dark, so long as I am there to lurk within it. His world is gone, and with it, all his hope as well.   It was a fool’s errand to have even come here, and I am done with you and your false dragon,” Adrastos declared, his tail melting into darkness, snagging RDA and pulling him into the black abyss below.  His tail re-emerged from the shadows, very much as a single tail, and without RDA holding onto it.  “Are you ready to join your beast in darkness?”

Alexander merely smirked as he giggled slightly.  “It’s cute how you think you can hold him back.”  Alexander’s eyes flashed red as a crimson portal opened above him.  "I call to thee who holds the power to rend the obsidian darkness and scorch the heavens and Earth!  By the power of Blazing Soul I beseech thee, O Absolute King, arise!Hot Red Dragon Archfiend!!"  In a brilliant flash of red, the transmogrified Signer Dragon arose from the portal and triumphantly roared.

Adrastos stared at the dragon blankly, before slamming his claw into the ground.  A large mouth of darkness formed from the ground, snaking up at an unbelievable speed, snapping up HRDA, and drowning him in the darkness again.  “What were you even trying to achieve?” Adrastos questioned idly.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Alexander answered simply as his eyes flashed once more.  “I won’t even bother with a chant this time.  Come forth, Red Dragon Archfiend Scarright!!”  Once again, a new form of RDA arose, this time smashing through the spot from which it was dragged into.  Not wasting any time this time around, RDAS swung around and smashed Adrastos across the face with the ribcage-like gauntlet on its right arm, knocking the dark dragon away by a few yards.

Adrastos silently rolled across the darkness, his wing lazily flopped over his body.  Without a word, he melted into shadow, reshaping himself until he was standing upright again.  “A lot of force, but no real power behind.  I told you, my scales are impenetrable, and no amount of blunt force will ever harm me,” Adrastos boasted.

“Хорошо знать.”  

Before Adrastos could even understand what the hell was just stated, he suddenly found himself one left eye short, as it had been ruptured by a high-speed bullet.  The dark dragon shrieked loudly, recoiling backwards from the shot as a bit of blood spattered from the socket. He seethed in disgust, clinging to his eye as it reformed, burning with hatred. “Now… that was just rude,” he growled indignantly.

“But I send bullet with love,” a heavy Russian accent responded with a hint of sarcasm, its owner making himself known from within the darkness: Trigger, his hat slightly disheveled and his overcoat tattered from the fighting he had done outside the castle, yet still maintained his stone-like face and steely stare.  “That could not be rude then, da?”

“Uhh, “Trigger”, right?” Alexander called out to the Altister.  “What’re you doing here?  Aren’t you guys still fighting outside?”

“Other Azimuths can handle with few less of us, we are confident in comrades’ success,” Trigger replied, signalling for the other five Altisters--Left-Eye, Vortex Al, I.T., Sniffles, and Alizure (a recently named Altister with dark grey fur, cerulean stripes, and blue eyes whose body periodically gave off a sparkling sheen)--to enter the picture.

“We figured you guys may need a little bit more help,” Left-Eye said as he pulled out his dual pistols, while Vortex Al drew out a four-foot long katana.

“It would seem they do,” I.T. remarked flatly as a thick black cable emerged from each of his sleeves, as well as two from his back, “if Adrastos' continued existence is any indication.”

“Typical that the golems would let some rats through.  I should have known that they wouldn’t do a proper job,” Adrastos grumbled to himself, getting comfy as he lay down on the darkness.

"The only pest we see around here is you," Alizure retorted.  "It's high time for you to be ousted from this place.  (I knew we shoulda brought a Time Flute with us, though.  Could've saved us the trouble and avoided this whole mess entirely.)"

"S-S-Some things just c-c-can't be planned out, y-y-y-y'know," Sniffles shivered.  "B-b-but I agree, it's time we gave Ad-d-drastos the c-c-c-c-c-cold shoulder."  (“Oh for the love of… really?”)  (“Y-Y-Yes, r-r-really.  Got a p-p-p-problem with that?”)

‘I’m sure all of you want to make some bold, heroic statement relating to your theme.  But we simply don’t have time, nor do I possess any further capacity to care.  Do any of you have anything worthwhile to say before I end you all?” Adrastos questioned.  “Oh wait, nevermind, I simply don’t CARE!”

Standing on his hind legs, a purple seal formed around Adrastos.  “Aeons of infinite darkness, harken to my call.  Let all who stand before me face the endless, infinite expanse of your great majesty.  BOUNDLESS DARKNESS END THEIR LIGHT!  NECRON’S CLAW!” Adrastos chanted.

Alexander, Scarright, and the Altisters all had the air crushed out of their bodies as black domes surrounded them, each dome filled with an intense pressure completely intent on crushing them.  Each dome steadily shrank down, preparing for their dark and bitter end as they were all forced to the floor, pressing into the darkness as they were slowly being crushed into it.  “DROWN IN DARKNESS!”

“... not today.”

A sharp, agonizing pain ran through Adrastos’ body as he felt something piercing through his long neck from behind.  Despite his intense pain, Adrastos managed to catch sight of a shining something that had just flown out the front of his throat, an almost white crystal attached to a wooden shaft.  Before it could fly off any further, the staff was caught by the suddenly-appearing Alister, having used his Time Power to catch the staff after he had thrown it through Adrastos’ neck.  Adrastos rasped loudly, the wound not healing as his concentration shattered.  His aura faded away, as did the darkness and the spell he had cast.  Blood spilled from the wound as he staggered onto his hind legs, clinging to the hole in his throat. “Blasted… Light… Gem…,” he rasped loudly, his throat whistling from his shattered words as his purple blood spilled onto the stone floor.

“And that, ladies and gents, is how you pull off a distraction!” Alexander declared with an over-dramatic bow.  “And now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for!  Endgame time!”  Alexander’s eyes flashed red once again, this time accompanied by the intensifying shining of the Crimson Dragon mark on his chest.  "The worlds of the King and The Devil, here and now shall join as one. Emerge from the Blazing Soul and lift up the very cries of Creation itself! Come Forth, Red Nova Dragon!"

Red Dragon Archfiend Scarright’s eyes flashed as it let off a powerful roar, its body appearing to shatter as its grandest form took its place.  It roared loudly, flames spewing from its mouth as Adrastos huddled on the ground, his throat leaking out.  But, even in the face of defeat, he was still grinning to himself.

It mattered not to Red Nova Dragon as it grabbed hold of the weakened Adrastos and, with a mighty strike, punched the dark dragon clear through the castle’s ceiling, Adrastos’ limp body soaring upwards towards the clouded sky.  “It’s all you, Al!” Alexander declared as the General hopped into RND’s open palm, the Cosmic Synchro Dragon winding up before pitching Alister into the sky after Adrastos.

Alister zoomed straight past Adrastos, rocketing up higher until he breached the dark clouds above, coming out to the other side where he was greeted with the sight of the blue full moon.  Reflecting on such a sight for a few seconds, Alister began to descend, Titan’s Light Gen staff in hand as he plummeted back down towards the earth with the Light Gem pointed downwards.  The clouds parted away in a wide circle as Alister pierced through them, allowing the moon’s light to shine down upon the earth for the first time in what felt like forever.  Alister continued to descend, his hoverboots assisting him in gaining speed as he was rapidly approaching Adrastos from above.  With a furious roar, the General finally connected, driving the Light Gem through Adrastos’ skull, right between the eyes. The two drove towards the ground at a speed very inappropriate for descent, smashing another hole through the roof of the throne room, Adrastos’ body spraying into clumps of shadow everywhere, leaving only Alister behind to be caught by Red Nova Dragon.

“ALISTER!” Alexander gasped out as he and the Altisters quickly gathered around Red Nova Dragon as it lowered an unresponsive Alister closer to the ground.  


”Farewell…, my Friend”


“Alister…?”  Fear began to take hold of Alex as he proceeded to shake Alister by the shoulders, gently at first but becoming rougher as he grew more frantic.  “Alister, wake up, please!  Al…!  AL, DAMMIT, OPEN YOUR EYES!!!”

Alister remained unmoving after that, causing the others to fear the worst… until Alister gave off a weak cough as he began to stir.  “Di… did I get him…?” Alister uttered weakly as he looked up into Alexander’s worried face, which slowly became a face of relief.

“Not quite,” I.T. intoned, nodding at the splatter mark.

The dark wisps that had been Adrastos were steadily conglomerating together, forming a mass of darkness on the floor.  Adrastos’ eyes stared disdainfully from the mass as he slowly sank into darkness.  “Congratulations, you won the battle rats.  Too bad my distraction was better than yours, as you’ve ALL lost the war.  I’d say that I’ll be back, but, I won’t, and neither will you, ~keff,” the dark dragon cackled as he melted into nothingness. The sudden sound of glass shattering caught everyone’s attention, as the crystal spires that had been holding Red up had shattered, leaving him splayed on the seal, still unmoving.

“Red!!” Alister gasped out, finding the strength to climb out of Red Nova Dragon’s hand and stagger over to the Seal, with Alex and the Altisters following close behind.  “Red, please be okay,” Alister begged as he pressed his hands against the Seal’s barrier.  “C’mon, ya gotta wake up...!”

Though faint, Red had the faintest stirring of movement.  “Alister…?” he whispered softly.

“Yeah, it’s me, Red,” Alister breathed out, a small feeling of relief filling him.  “Hang on, okay?  We’re gonna get you outta this thing!”

Red stirred again, his ratty wings flapping from the effort as he strained to even hoist himself up.  He only managed a foot before he opened his eyes, his plain, milk white eyes.  “Alister?  Are you there?” he questioned.

“I’m right here, Red… I’m right here,” Alister uttered back, pained to see his friend in such a state.

Red’s eyes narrowed in concern as he weakly looked about.  “Alister, if you’re there, please answer me!” he begged.

“Red, I’m right here, in front of you!” Alister repeated a bit more forcefully as he started to feel a bit frantic.  “Just listen to the sound of my voice!”  Alister clapped his hands together for good measure.

“Alister… please don’t play with me.  I… I can’t take it.  Please…, please, tell me you’re there,” Red sobbed, his arms shaking from the effort of keeping himself up.

"Alister," Alexander quietly gasped in horrified realization, "I don't think Red can hear you...!"

"We have to do something, though!" Alister quavered.  "We have to get him to know I'm here for him!  Alex, can't you cast a healing spell on Red?  Maybe that could help--"

"--I can't, not with the Seal of Orichalcos blocking us off from him," Alexander replied regrettably.

“He’s gone.”

Alister gasped loudly, seeing that Red had collapsed onto the seal.  “As he should have…, I’ve been nothing but trouble.  I’m… just a jinx.  Just a jinx.  Just a jinx.  Just a jinx.  Just a jinx.  Just a jinx.  Just a jinx…,” he repeated over and over again as he curled up on himself, sobbing on the floor.

“This is bad,” Bianca gasped, appearing by Alister’s side and almost scaring the piss out of him.  “He doesn’t have the strength to fight back anymore.  He’s… given up on hope,” she quavered.

Alister eyes widened in horror.  “But… no…,” he feebly gasped out, “he-he can’t be… not when we were so close… … wait, what’s going on with this Seal…?!” Alister blurted out as he felt the glowing green barrier around Red slowly begin to recede away from Alister.

“... oh no,” Alexander gasped out. “The Seal… it’s trying to take Red’s soul away…!  Red’s given up on himself, so the Seal is accepting that as a loss by Forfeit!”

“That’s noh-noh-noh-not good,” Bianca uttered, now starting to glitch out.  “His mind is gro-gro-growing unstable,” she declared as she pixelated out of existence.

“Well, this sucks,” Ratchet grumbled (having always been there) as he also faded out of sight.

“It seems that, despite Sayer not being in complete control of the Corrupted Red,” I.T. hypothesized, his face expressing deep concern for the first time, “he managed to set up a backup plan should Red be deemed worthless to him.  Sayer was planning to make Red his, one way or another.  And, I think this might have been Adrastos’ plan all along.  He would have known what the Seal does.  It’s despicable… Sayer has never even met the vile creature and yet they’re already working together to cause misery.”

“We have to stop it!” Alister cried out, banging his fists against the barrier.  “We can’t let this happen!!  We can’t lose Red like this!!!”

“But how…?” Alexander wondered frantically.  “The Seal of Orichalcos can’t be dispelled by conventional means; simple destruction effects don’t work against it…!”

“Alexander Zenith,” Red Nova Dragon called out, speaking by itself this time around, “it is true that normal methods are useless in breaking the Seal, but there is still one thing you can try; you possess the Blazing Soul, permitting you to take on the powers of the Crimson Dragon itself.  Through it, you can create the miracle that can save Red’s soul.”

Alexander glanced down at his chest, where the Full Crimson Dragon Mark shone, then over at the Seal.  “... right now, we need more time,” Alexander spoke as he held out a hand toward the Seal’s barrier.  “By the power of the Crimson Dragon, I repel the Seal!!”

Within the Seal, another Crimson Dragon Mark materialized around Red; as the Seal shrunk ever closer, it was held back by the Crimson Circle.  A dissonant ringing vibrated the air around them as the two Circles struggled against one another, both at a violent stalemate.  However, despite the Crimson Circle’s efforts, the Seal of Orichalcos was still steadily shrinking, inch by murderous inch.

“It’s not working…!” Alister shrieked hysterically. “WHY ISN’T IT WORKING?!”

“We still have time, Alister, calm down!” Alexander snapped.  “We’ve come this far, Alister.  We can still do this!  Here, lemme hold on to Titan’s Staff with you,” Alexander commanded.

“Sure, but, it’s getting kinda hard to stay calm when I am quite literally seeing the life get sucked out of him.  You have his magic still, right?  Maybe Banish could destroy the seal?” Alister suggested, his fur starting to frazzle.

“Yeah, let’s try that,” Alexander nodded.  With the two of them holding on to the Staff, Alexander and Alister faced the Seal together, the Altisters circling around it.  Alex and Alister each scrawled a line that intersected each other, forming a large, shining “X” shape.  “BANISH!!” they cried out as a radiant flash burst forth from the symbol, striking the Seal head-on.  As the brilliant light died down, however, they were shocked and horrified to see that the spell had no effect on the Seal--not even so much as a crack in its surface.

“Oh fuck!” Alister cried, their ace in the hole failing.

“SHIT!” Alex shrieked.  “Dammit, isn’t their something else?!”

“Well?” Alister demanded of the Altisters, “do you guys have any ideas?”

“Do you really need us to tell you to try something stronger?!” Vortex Al snapped back, dodging a piece of falling masonry as the castle began to collapse.

“Unfortunately, none of us have any knowledge of Dragon Spells stronger than Banish,” I.T. uttered despondently.  

“A spell stronger than Banish?” Alexander muttered to himself.  “Hey Al, did you ever see what that Shock spell used as an icon?”

“Why the hell would you wanna use--! Oh, fuck it.  It’s a lightning bolt shape,” Alister replied.

“Disintegrate also had a lightning bolt, but, it had another shape added to it,” Alexander recalled, “so, it’s the upgraded Shock right?  So, what if we just, well, add on to Banish, I guess?”

“You… you may be on to something,” Alister realized.

“Just to be on the safe side, though,” Alexander added, “let’s have the Crimson Dragon throw in an assist.”

The two lombaxes once more scrawled an “X” before them, then proceeded to draw a “+” to intersect it.  “Crimson Dragon, grant us strength!” Alexander cried out, calling forth a large, serpentine silhouette wreathed in crimson flames.  The dragonic silhouette circled around the throne room before hurtling itself headfirst through the shining magic symbol.

“PURIFY!!”

The particles exploding from the used spell scattered like petals, twisting and writhing in the air as they turned crimson, coalescing into the form of the great Crimson Dragon.  Twisting its long body around the seal, it forced its way through, spiraling up and up and up until it slammed itself right into the ground, its own eight-pointed star intersecting with the six-pointed seal.  Energy crackled between the two seals, neither refusing to budge until cracks started to form in the seal.  Like the sound of glass shattering, the Seal of Orichalcos was utterly annihilated, the lombaxes being thrown back by the shockwave created by the Seal’s destruction.  The part of the castle closest to the seal was also blown away, leaving a large open skylight in the wall; a wonderful view of the blue moon peeking through the hole in the still crimson skies.

Alister was the first to begin getting back upright, rolling onto his hands and knees as he looked over towards the now free Red.  He did not feel relief, however, as he noticed that Red had not moved from where he lay curled up on the floor.  “Red…?  RED!!”  Scrambling to his feet, Alister dashed over to the dragon, followed by a stumbling Alexander.  As he reached Red’s side, he realized that the dragon seemed unresponsive.  A cold fear gripped his heart as Alister placed a hand on Red’s forehead.  

“Red…?  Red, y-you can wake up now…,” Alister whimpered in an almost begging tone, his own body trembling as his anxiety slowly crept through.  “No… no, please,” he quavered as tears formed in his eyes, “please don’t tell me we were too late….” 

 

As he looked down upon Red with tear-filled eyes, Alister’s mind was taken back to the time where he had found Kaden, battered, beaten, and slowly dying after his confrontation with Emperor Tachyon.  There was nothing more he could do for Kaden… Alister had held Kaden close to him and wept, just as Alister did now, cradling his arms around Red’s neck as best he could as he began to sob into the dragon’s scales, all but convinced that he had once again lost a dear friend….

[Love of Ghibli]

Dorian and Gyokuen: Path of Death 

 

It seemed that his ruse was actually working. This is something that was pretty weird and unexpected. Nevertheless it looked like this could go smoothly. Dorian listened as Tenco and the others discussed Protheus' threat level. Ugh this is so not a part of the plan, but I guess it would be a necessary means to an end. Um I don't know what to say, I think Protheus is pretty strong from what I've seen. I'm not even sure all of us could take him on in direct combat. He mustered trying to put on his best nervous tone. But, I guess miss Tenco here would be the best judge of Protheus' power. If you think it is possible for us too defeat him then it must be so. Dorian was busy trying to restrain the eye twitching that was simply a natural response to the load of foolishness that was coming out of his mouth. It was sickening to talk about the whole team togetherness aspect of all of this. 

 

Gyokuen however was simply bewildered by the aura's of all the new people. Oh I don't even remember being this young and naive. I can see the Rukh in all of you...well not all of you. She said as she looked once again at MirageGaoGamon. So pure and nice. Dorian threw Gyokuen a side ways glare but she didn't care. I guess I should at least explain the Rukh like Ms. Tenco wanted. She snapped her fingers and everyone began to glow either black or white and they would see the small bird like creatures flying around them. These are the manifestations of life as you live it. They're pretty harmless on their own and do nothing but represent the life stream. Now for some of you who live a life bound by rules of fate and you surrender to the order of things like that boy over there and Ms. Tenco your Rukh would appear white. However, if you abandon the confines of fate and choose to take life back into your own hands then your Rukh will appear black like Dorian's and mine. 

Another way of looking at Rukh white is the affirmation of life as it flows. You accept that your life is apart of a cycle and is part of something bigger and that when you die your Rukh will enter the lifestream and become a part of the circle of life. You literally give back to the universe that you have taken from. Under this ideology Black Rukh like ours is the fervent rejection of that principle. Our lives are technically our own. Our lives serve ourselves and no one else. When you enter this selfish mindset that usually comes from denial and anger the common term is called "falling into depravity." If you do this when you die your Rukh will no longer enter the lifestream upon death. You will simply cease to exist. Dorian decided to add seeing as Gyokuen's probably did not reflect what everyone else would be thinking. 

Where did you learn Solomon's horrid rhetoric? Gyokuen said rather disturbed. Hanging around you long enough I've discovered the need to do my own research. Ugh. Anyway, if these people are serious then why don't they just use this vessel right here? Gyokuen fervently waves her hand at Eria. What? Gyokuen snap points at Eria again and this time everyone can see that Eria's aura is vastly greater than the others. I thought it was odd that your aura is stronger than everyone else's yet you produce Rukh like a normal person. You're a vessel! You clearly have some strong presences resting in you and you are simply their mode of transport. Gyokuen then gets disturbingly close to Eria and looks her up and down. You must tell me who made you? I don't think she's an object, she says she has a boyfriend. Well men typically tend to personify their posessions, don't they? Its fair that whoever made her would program her with some form of emotions. Gosh it must've taken such a long time to construct such a high quality vessel.  

Dorian proceeded to facepalm as this probably wasn't making his life any easier.  

Ending Location: B6

 

Butlerok and Rhadamanthys: Prologuous 

 

After regaining their strength the two decided that it would be easier to simply go through the mysterious last door. They went into the new zone they immediately noticed the massive snake cloud figure in the distance. It seemed that the two of them were far away at the edges of the battlefield so they couldn't actually engage yet, but this was definitely something new. Ragnarok revealed his chibi form and Rhadamanthys scanned for Cosmos. Hey there ain't that many people here and the young brat ain't one of them. Protheus isn't here either. So some bad news and some good news. So whatcha think that thing is? Probably another trial that we would have to deal with as a collective. If we hope to engage then it is likely that we would be overpowered. It's not like we're in a rush or anything though...You are correct. It isn't as if we need to risk fighting this early on. Rhadamanthys simply rolled his eyes as the lazily floated towards the battlefield.

 

Ending Location: F4

[Dad]

Revy, Kratos, Kenpachi, & Yachiru / Prologous

 

They suffered.  Oh how they suffered.  The pain was immeasurable.  But you would think after being shot, stabbed, having your limbs blown off, and being run over, it wouldn't compare.  This was something entirely different.  Revy screamed, as every inch of her body was overwhelmed by pain.  Kratos merely winced.  He had been through this once--no--twice before.  Nothing he wasn't used to.  Kenpachi ignored it as best he could, focusing his attention on Yachiru who suffered much more than he did.  His heart sank as he watched Yachiru's eyes glaze over.  She was hurting so much, that she could not comprehend it.  This was no longer pain.  This was an effect that had completely taken over Yachiru's mind, totally disabling her sense of reasoning, understanding, and feeling.  When it was all said and done, she collapsed, and immediately became unconscious, unable to feel or witness anything else.  Kenpachi managed to retain his composure, rushing to Yachiru's side.  Kratos followed suit, as he landed beside Revy.  

 

Kenpachi couldn't find the words to express his rage.  He lifted Yachiru up, and moved her body a few yards away.  Expending some of his own reiatsu, he placed several towering black boxes around her, sealing her inside.  "Time to keep my promise," he thought to himself.  

 

Kratos did his best to comfort Revy, as she fell over, holding herself tightly.  "What was that?" she whispered.  Kratos looked to the source of Revy's pain and then back to Revy.  "It is not something we can explain," he said plainly.  Revy slowly shook off the pain, standing to her feet again with the help of Kratos.  As Kenpachi returned, he gave Kratos a reassuring look.

 

"This is gonna be obnoxious as hell," Kenpachi said.  Kratos nodded.  "But it isn't something we can avoid."  The trio observed Reimu casting spells all around the Avatar that descended upon them.  Revy stood up straight, taking her weight off of Kratos.  "Let's give her a hand," she said drawing her second gun, and cocking the hammer.  Kenpachi said nothing as he leaped forward at the Avatar.  "Nozarashi!" he yelled as he prepared to cut the very fabric of space around the Avatar.

 

Kratos and Revy separated, going both east and west respectively.  Revy fired off a barrage of shots, weaving her bullets between Reimu's spell casts with precision timing.  Kratos, on the opposite end, crushed the ground beneath him, and lifted several dozen enormous chunks of magically enhanced stone tiles, launching them at the Avatar with the power of Atlas' magic.  

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Killua, Pathway to Truth

 

Killua gave Tesability a strange look when she asked him why he was here.  "Why am I here?  Why was I picked to save my world?" he now wondered aloud.  He went silent for a moment as he watched the dragon repair her snout with a very cartoon like animation.  Surprising him still, the dragon continued to pose very interesting questions.  Now, she mentioned his home.  Killua's home was something he missed dearly.  Having only been gone for a brief time, he longed to see his family again, despite their differences.  Besides, his home was Gon's as well.  After giving it some thought, he had an answer.

 

"I guess so," he said finally.  "I mean, who doesn't wanna go home, right?"  Killua watched Tesability shake herself free, before she prepared to take flight again.  Then she said something that really made Killua think.

 

"Bringing your world back huh?" he said solemnly as the dragon took off more slowly this time.  "Maybe that's why everyone is here," he said now following behind his new found 'companion'.  And right behind her, Killua crossed the threshold of the mirrored world, he too paused in shock.  "What happened here?" he questioned aloud.

[Tesability Black]

~The Divine - Path of Truth - Tesability's POV~

Tesability was sitting on her haunches as she looked over the area, almost looking ready to cry.

"Deed dish pwash Cawapsh wike howm deed,"¹ she strangely asked before standing up onto all fours, her wings folded close to her back. "Dish wooks tu much wike wha' 'appeened tu howm ovew a decaid agu..."²

A tear managed to escape from one of her black eyes before she blinked and tried to wipe it away with the back of one of her paws. "Nu dwewleen' on da pasht. Musht muv fo'wawd tu bwin' evewywon backsh."³

She stretched out her wings once more, getting ready to take flight. But before she could really begin to fly, a faint impacting sound started becoming heard, prompting her to lower her wings and lift a leafy ear.

"Wha'sh da---"⁴

"Welcome to the Path of Truth, old friend."

The dragon lifted her head up high towards one of the barren trees nearby, spotting what appeared to be a woman approaching her thirties. She was dressed in simple black attire, turtleneck, pants and boots and her brown hair was kept straight and allowed to fall naturally around her head past her neck.

"Tawen?"⁵

"Whom else would it be?" The woman pushed up her wire-framed glasses closer to her brownish-silver eyes before hopping down from the branch she was on, landing in front of the human and dragon pair before turning towards the human with a gentle smile on her face. "And greetings, Killua."

 

¹ "Did this place Collapse like home did,"

² "This looks too much like what happened to home over a decade ago..."

³ "No dwelling on the past. Must move forward to bring everyone back."

⁴ "What's tha---"

⁵ "Talen?"

[Phantom Roxas]

[Death B6] - Arthur, Eria, MirageGaogamon, & Gagagigo

 

At least the young girl, Tenco, seemed pleasant enough. Though she seemed more concerned with Dorian and the older woman, that she had agreed to Protheus as being a problem, with even Dorian taking her side, Eria began to have hope that the negotiations wouldn’t be nearly as bad as they could’ve possibly been.

 

When the woman began to explain the concept of Rukh, birds began to surround everyone, save for MirageGaogamon. Eria and Arthur exchanged a glance for a moment, suspicious of the dark coloration to the birds surrounding Dorian and the woman, though once she heard that the white Rukhs are proof of life bound by rules of fate, with the woman gesturing towards Arthur as an example, Eria pursed her lip. She knew the woman would have struck a nerve with, but Arthur kept his back towards them. If Arthur, and Gagagigo for that matter, were to do as they say Isamy told them, then if these Rukh were as definite as they sounded, could they fall into depravity?

 

No. Eria wouldn’t allow that. Even if the Pathway said that they could only succeed on their own, if what Dorian was saying was true, then Arthur was playing into a cycle of fate, and if he broke away from that, he’d cease to exist. For serving the Gods of her land, Eria considered the prospect of giving back to the universe a fond one, but for Arthur, it’d be dooming him to either the feeling of servitude, or complete oblivion. Arturia and the Divine consigning everyone’s universes to that same void was no better than the fate in store for the people possessing the Black Rukh.

 

”I thought it was odd that your aura is stronger than everyone else's yet you produce Rukh like a normal person. You're a vessel!” The woman must be able to notice that Slifer resided within her. It wasn’t exactly something Eria cared to hide, but the woman’s tone gave the impression that she could learn some actual secrets about Eria. ”You clearly have some strong presences resting in you and you are simply their mode of transport. You must tell me who made you?”

 

She was inches from Eria’s face, as the color drained from it. Between Dorian and Solasiro, Eria had learned that she was only a card in their worlds. She wanted to snap back and say that it was her mother and father who made her, but this woman wouldn’t believe that. She didn’t see Eria as a human, only as a doll.

 

I don't think she's an object, she says she has a boyfriend. Even if this wasn’t the same Dorian from the Desert Seth, his words were still unsettling. There was no way he was seeing her relationship with Arthur the same way she could.

 

”Well men typically tend to personify their possessions, don't they? Its fair that whoever made her would program her with some form of emotions. Gosh it must've taken such a long time to construct such a high quality vessel.”

 

Gyokuen was drawn into the air by her throat, as water formed into a hand around her neck. Eria had her hand raise, but her eyes did not meet Gyokuen’s.

 

”I didn’t come here to fight any of you. The only reason I haven’t snapped your neck for that right now is because we’re going to need as many people as we can to fight Protheus. But if you say anything like that ever again, we’ll find a way to defeat him without you.” The water broke apart, dropping Gyokuen back onto the bridge, though now she was drenched in the water. Eria’s pupils began to become more slanted, surrounded in a red aura as the skin around her eyes began to change into scales. Gagagigo, MirageGaogamon, and Arthur all came closer to her, Arthur and MirageGaogamon all taking up their weapons while Gagagigo hunched over Gyokuen.

 

”I can assure you that I’m not simply here for transport.” The red aura began to spread around Eria until it covered her whole body. ”Now what’s it going to be?”

[Love of Ghibli]

Dorian and Gyokuen: Path of Death

 

Gyokuen felt herself float with the aqua force choke technique and when she was dropped down she could barely here the words come out of Eria's mouth. Gyokuen's eyes were wide open as she was holding back her laughter. She slowly stood back up and noticed that everyone was gearing up for combat. 

 

"Now what’s it going to be?” 

 

Gyokuen looked at Eria and simply shrugged and coughed up some water. So do you mean to tell me that the boy here didn't actually make you? That is disappointing. With all of the universes and worlds out there I was hoping to learn something new. While being completely soaked everyone would begin to notice the moisture that covered her literally float away and condense in a ball above her. Sad she said with silly pout. It looks like I get to show Ms. Tenco and the rest of you the beauty of Rukh. Dorian quickly stepped between the two opposing parties. Wait we don't have to do this. It was a simple misunderstanding. No Dorian I am not mad at IT at all for this display. Some of the first vessels I rescued back in my crusade days acted the exact same way. No one likes finding out they are a vessel for a higher purpose once again Black Rukh come from the rejection of such fate. I would ask it to join me, but you know if you break a vase it doesn't return to the lifestream or anything. Dorian just facepalmed as that was probably the worst thing she could've said.

Do not worry Dorian, if this is the clown girl you told us about then I can see that it is a least a thousand years to early to fight me. She looked at the battle ready entities and she chuckled. I think I going to have fun for a little while and lets make it educational. Gyokuen snapped her fingers as everyone's Rukh proceed to make a dome around them. Now if you have proper training you can actually control the Rukh and give them commands. Here's one. No air for you. Inside the dome of swirling Rukh Gyokuen puts up a spherical borg around her and Dorian and proceeds to rapidly suck the oxygen out of the dome slowly suffocating everyone else. 

This is why I hate those with the White Rukh...always doing displays of strength and not simply killing the enemy. But then again this is fate...isn't it?

 

Ending Location: B6

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Well...this seems to be working nicely....

 

Tenco sighed in relief that it seemed that the two groups had been starting to talk in peace, even though it's painfully clear that aside from Eria, barely anyone else was actually in there to keep the peacefulness going. Still, it was quite nice that no one did anything to anger the other side so far. And not to mention, Gyokuen for some reasons, with some added rhetoric from Dorian himself, had finally given the explanation she asked earlier regarding the black and white Rukhs. The concept was a bit confusing, but Tenco memorized what they said well to be thought about later on. Things were going really well, and-

 

"I thought it was odd that your aura is stronger than everyone else's yet you produce Rukh like a normal person. You're a vessel! You clearly have some strong presences resting in you and you are simply their mode of transport."

 

Wait, what the-

 

"You must tell me who made you?"

 

Gyokuen, what the hell are you doing?

 

"I don't think she's an object, she says she has a boyfriend."

 

Dorian, you too?

 

"Well men typically tend to personify their posessions, don't they? Its fair that whoever made her would program her with some form of emotions. Gosh it must've taken such a long time to construct such a high quality vessel." 

 

Oh, damn it.

 

Of course, it seemed that once she assumed something, reality would try its best to completely destroy the assumption. Just like that, Gyokuen finally ruined everything. The reaction from Eria was...frankly quite terrifying, as she immediately used water to choke and lift the woman up into the air as she slowly looking to be more and more menacing, complete with a form of creepy aura covering her, all the while her teammates preparing themselves and their weapons behind her.

 

Welp, there goes the notion of a peaceful meeting.

 

”Now what’s it going to be?”

 

"Uh...guys and girls...can we just-" Tenco tried to say something to calm everyone, but her small voice was drowned immediately when Gyokuen started to talk.

 

"So do you mean to tell me that the boy here didn't actually make you? That is disappointing. With all of the universes and worlds out there I was hoping to learn something new. Sad."

 

"Wait we don't have to do this. It was a simple misunderstanding."

 

"Yeah, let's not-"

 

"No Dorian I am not mad at IT at all for this display. Some of the first vessels I rescued back in my crusade days acted the exact same way. No one likes finding out they are a vessel for a higher purpose once again Black Rukh come from the rejection of such fate. I would ask it to join me, but you know if you break a vase it doesn't return to the lifestream or anything."

 

This time even Dorian displayed exasperation at the woman's antics. Tenco herself just pulled her sword out from her hairpin in preparation to whatever would happen. The situation had turned to be almost completely unsalvageable in almost an instant, and she probably would need to protect herself or help Dorian. That Gyokuen could just go screw herself, however.

 

And then, just when Tenco thought that Gyokuen couldn't screw things up more, suddenly she, and presumably everyone else there, was surrounded by a swirling black sphere, quite possibly the Black Rukh that Gyokuen kept on talking about. Before she could do anything about it however, something happened, and what followed next was Tenco realizing that something had sucked out the air out of the sphere, seemingly in an attempt of suffocation. Completely irritated by it, Tenco decided to hold her breathing completely before stabbing the sphere she was in using the golden sword on her hands. Gyokuen herself said that the Rukh was the manifestation of life's natural force, and thus, Tenco knew that her sword would be able to handle it. And it did, as the swirling black mass contacted her sword, her sword's ability kicked in, and disintegrated the sphere surrounding her into small scarlet orbs, which the sword absorbed afterwards. Just in time before Tenco would need to gasp for air.

 

"Gyokuen, can you just stop this nonsense at once?" Tenco, still panting heavily after holding her breath for too long, said. She probably wouldn't be heard, but at the very least, she just wanted to say it out loud on this once, moments before the situation would definitely worsen.

 

---

[The Warden]

[[Another Time, Another Place: Prologuous]]

 

The Avatar's body twisted in mild annoyance that the "Eternal" Shrine Maiden had so cheaply avoided his assault, but it wasn't really all that meaningful in the long run. Its attention was only vaguely focused on Reimu as new presences were felt inside Prologuous. The darkness of the two loops folded over the eyes, the large stack-like needles pressing into the "flesh" of the eyelids, before bouncing off and scattering like an exploding pin cushion.

 

More nuisances? Rhadamanthys of the Underworld, Butler of some vague Yugioh universe, and Ragnarok, Demon Sword from Shibusen. Tch, this is growing mildly annoying now that more insects have come to spoil the tranquillity of Prologuous-- Wait, what now?

 

The Avatar hadn't been paying attention to the others, apparently having some form of ADD as he didn't notice (or stopped caring) about being sliced in two by Kenpachi, both halves of the Avatar floating away as Revy's bullets harmlessly bounced off the thick hide(?) of the Avatar's eye, while Kratos' magically thrown tiles crashed into the other eye, the black blob hurtling through the air until it could slow itself down. Both lids opened, the eyes operating separately of each other as they focused on the multiple instances of opponents they were facing.

 

Vaguely irritating insects. But commendable enough that you could somehow harm me while I stopped paying attention. It appears I might be required to expend something resembling effort in order to dispose of you all. Just as well your foolish ally has brought with him something worthwhile for my use.

 

The two halves of the shadowy serpent broke free from their loops, piercing their respective eyes as they dragged them together, slamming into each other. The shadows grew restless as they grew over the eyes, the mass somehow getting too great as the base eye slammed into the ground of C4. The shadows coated the eyes, burrowing into the ground as the second eye raised into the air, the shadow blooming into large twisted petals at it took on a needlessly abstract flower-like form that was thirty feet tall. The roots throbbed as large clouds of shadow-like powder wafted from what could be considered the bulb of the plant, raining down and coating the ground and whoever was nearby across one tile apart with the foul stuff. The two pillars nearby reacted violently to the powder, two storms forming from their glowing tips.

 

Beginning Mad Blood override. Ten-percent and counting.

[Phantom Roxas]

[Death C7] - Sora, Zilyana, Kree’arra

 

”Sora...?”

 

Sora was relieved to see another member of the Counter Corps running towards him. ”Hey, Richard! How’s it-”

 

Following behind Richard was a pack of lycans, each of them wearing armor to protect them for the battle.

 

”He could have at least killed more of them before bringing them to us.” Zilyana muttered.

 

Sora cast a Magnega spell with each of his Keyblades, dragging several of the wolves towards a large diamond made of pure light once it appeared behind Richard. Once Richard made it closer to the group, Sora command two of his Keyblades to cross against each other within the Magnega spell, and jumped over Richard, bringing the Keyblade in his hand down onto another lycan. Kree’arra and Zilyana flew around Sora and Richard on each side, slashing and punching some of the crawling lycans into the Magnega spell just as it dissipated, throwing several of the lycans into the abyss and a few more onto the bridge.

 

”Let’s stick together,” Sora said as he backed up to Richard. ”For the Counter Corps.”

[Love of Ghibli]

Butlerok and Rhadamanthys: Prologuous

 

While lazily flying towards the battle Butlerok stopped abruptly as the massive eye show was happening in the distance. Rhadamanthys looked on slightly confused. What's happening? Someone's hacking the system! Put up the firewalls! Ragnarok said jokingly. I've always wanted to say that. What? Someone is trying to take over my Mad Blood I guess that's a different take on what typically happens. So far the major enemies of our past somehow choose to imitate the properties of my Mad Blood and not attempt a direct take over. Is this going to be a problem? No. I am not worried. But since we are now being attacked I guess we should go on some form of counter offensive. You have an attack that can cover this distance? Ragnarok started to laugh as he regressed back into Butler. 

Inside of Butlerok Ragnarok had called forth the Index and began browsing the tomes. Butlerok flicked his wrist and called forth the Chains of Hades. Butlerok slashed downward and once again called forth the several of the Hellish ghouls that reside from the underworld. The army of the Undead monsters marched forth towards the beast along with their master. Summoning an army doesn't seem to be advantageous. No, but this isn't an army, this a choir. Rhadamathys raised his eyebrow to question what he just heard. The creature referred to me as Butler from some Yugioh Universe and Ragnarok from Shibusen. This means it only has a shallow reading of me. Otherwise it would have mentioned Genryuusai and Hades. So with that being the case if it preparing for abilities it think it knows, then I will just attack with something new. So this is a spell from one of the magical tomes in the library inside my head. You take 3333 monks get them to chant and if you can control each and every one of them you can unleash a very...very powerful attack. I was able to make a replica of this spell in our first battle with a chimera. But now I get to try the real thing. These Ghouls count as monks? If you have control of them you make them have whatever faith you want. Now lets begin. 

The massive choir all started to hum in the same key as they marched. Rhadamanthys looked on as the area around the group started to glow bright red. Now here we take aim. Butlerok pointed at the massive blob of shadows and eyeballs. A massive cloud formed about 10 meters above the creature. Then destructive red light rained down trying destroy the creature. While Butlerok and Rhadamanthys continued to mobilize. 

 

Ending Location: E4

[Phantom Roxas]

[Death B6] - Arthur, Eria, MirageGaogamon, & Gagagigo

 

”’Clown girl’?” Eria remembered the Blood Priestess, how she was subject to Butlerok’s manipulation against LERNA. ”You… so you do remember us!” As Gyokuen snapped her fingers, Eria prepared a wave of water. ”And I am not an ‘it’! I am no one’s tool!”

 

”No air for you.” As everyone was surrounded by their own Rukh, Eria could feel her breath leaving her body. The wave dropped, while Eria, Arthur, and Gagagigo each gasped for air. the enemy. ”This is why I hate those with the White Rukh...always doing displays of strength and not simply killing the enemy. But then again this is fate...isn't it?”

 

MirageGaogamon still stood, taking a deep breath. ”Funny. I didn’t see any Rukh around me.” He prepared to charge at Gyokuen and Dorian, but Tenco, apparently able to still fight, managed to cut through the barrier of Rukh. As his friends started to regain their breath, MirageGaogamon answered to Tenco’s plea to Gyokuen. ”I won’t let you goading Eria slide, but if you’ll hold your tongue against her from now on, I would be willing to work alongside you. However, you, Dorian, are another matter entirely. I see your butler isn’t around, so I hope you’re not expecting to hide behind him. But why are you still here?”

 

---

[Death B6|A6] - Kairi

 

Kairi pressed her arm against Ansem’s throat, yet as she swung the Keyblade towards him, the headless Guardian took hold of the Keyblade, tossing it aside as Ansem kneed her in the chest, launching her against the far back wall of the cube. Once she hit it, the whole cube broke apart, to which Ansem sighed.

 

“How fortunate for you,” he said. “I could feel the specter of Xemnas engaged in combat with Sora, but no more. Xemnas’ presence seems to have faded.”

 

”So you’re saying that Sora won.” Kairi recalled her Keyblade, planting it into the bridge as the Guardian seemed to start regrowing its head.

 

“I can only tell you what happened to Xemnas. Perhaps they both died together.”

 

”Now I know you’re messing with me,” Kairi laughed. ”Sora wouldn’t do that. Even when he’s willing to put his life on the line to win, he’d never let himself die like that.”

 

“He put your entire universe on the line! Don’t you see, Kairi? The only reason you were allowed to live is because you had a purpose on the Inner Periphery, and that was to stop Xansvita. Sliske and a mere child were brought along to fight him. You were merely one of several contingency plans. You’re not a warrior whose earned her place in the Counter Corps, you’re only fighting for them because you managed to be the only one of those plans who actually succeeded. Xansvita is dead, and yet Sora lives. You’ve fulfilled your role here. It doesn’t matter if you fall here or in either of the remaining Pathways. You’ve been irrelevant since the moment Foster fired that railgun.”

 

”And I’m supposed to care what you think? You’re going to say I don’t matter after all you went through to use me for Kingdom Hearts?” A sphere of light appeared above Ansem, and in an instant, Kairi cut down through the Guardian, the Heartless howling as it faded into wisps of darkness. Ansem was then surrounded in a field of electricity, knocking Kairi to the ground, paralyzed.

 

“Ah, yes, that.” Ansem’s boot dug into Kairi’s throat, and he kept pushing further in. “A mere trinket to Isamy in her plans for opening the Door of Origin. That’s the true disappointment of this war. You and your friends sought other worlds, dreaming of the greater whole you were but a small part of. Yet even that whole was but a speck in the truth multiverse. The Counter Corps you foolishly claim fealty to out of love for but one of their kind, and even the Divine, all of them have just as much claim to this multiverse as you do. You are no ‘Princess of Heart’. Such notions mean nothing! Have you thought of how many must have died in this war before you were brought along? Arturia speaks as though she gave you another purpose, but she is no better. There is darkness in her heart. You are only fighting so that Arturia can use another finger to count the people she ‘saved’ from Isamy.” Kairi plunged her Keyblade right between Ansem’s legs, forcing the Seeker of Darkness to add an octave to his voice. “That was a-”

 

”Dick move?” Kairi massaged her neck as a Curaga spell coarsed through her body. ”Well, it’s like you said. I’m not a princess here, so I don’t have to play nice.”

 

 

Ending Location: A6

[Love of Ghibli]

Dorian and Gyokuen: Path of Death

Gyokuen turned around to witness Ms. Tenco use her sword to actually interact with the Rukh. Gyokuen did not expect this. As far as she knew only Magi were able to directly interact with the Rukh in such a manner. Needless to say she was intrigued. However as she turned around she noticed that the dog creature was able to talk and keep breathe. Gyokuen started to snicker as this was becoming quite a comedy of hilarity. Oh this is going to be quite annoying if you're unaffected by my magic. She then proceeded to look at Dorian as she didn't realize that she blew his whole cover by accident. Not that she really cared, but she realized that she did inconvenience the poor lad.

Dorian let out a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes. His poster immediately went back into his entitled self. Well that was fun for the five minutes that I had it going. What can I say you, should guard your secrets better. Seriously, could you for three seconds think of someone other than yourself. They aren't even that strong. STOP TALKING! You're only making this worse! Gyokuen started to snicker. Anywho, Dorian turned around to MirageGaoGamon who made a lot of bold statements.

 

Okay let me clear up a couple things. First, yes I got my memories. I went down the Path of Remembrance and guess what, remembered things soo much fun being me again. Second, I didn't hide behind my butler when I let you all live the first time. Don't think I need him this round either. Third, I WANT MY THANK YOU! I remember everything now you scrubs.

 

Yeah, I remember that lizard thing...oh wait is that Gagagagigo? Another trash card! Of course it is because what else happens when you give live to a grab bag of card garbage. Anyway I remember him trying to interrupt a fight in the underworld and I remember that it was my teammates, the Specters, that chose NOT to kill him on the spot. You're welcome! Who's next...oh Dogbert, I remember my digipet BlackWarGreymon mopping you up and down pyramids...and yet you're still alive. Then, I remember Butler telling me you were almost taken out by the Divine's anti-digimon fighter until it was both he and BlackWarGreymon that kept you alive...You're welcome!

 

And let's not forget the lady here. Dorian gives a murderous glare filled with the deepest bloodlust to Eria. I remember everything. I remember why I died in the first place. It was you! You, you, glorified 25 cents piece of cardboard. Yeah that was hard to remember. First, I let you live back in the desert because of some plan I had. Then it was my whispers that had Butlerok take you in and give you power. What do you in return? YOU GET ME KILLED! Plumes of fires appear on the side of the bridge clearly lighting the way. It was because of your foolishness that LERNA took me down, but wait there's more. I still get hit with some magical string of benevolence and give you the three Egyptian Gods. Do you realize I literally gave you...utter trash...the most powerful tools our universe has to offer. And what did you do? True to form, you get them killed! I think I remember Obelisk being empaled. How do you manage to do that? Do you want to know how to defeat Protheus? I figured it out a long time ago. We make you work for him! Its genius! Think about it, somehow someway you will try to help Protheus and it will backfire against him so hard that he will do what Ms Tenco here couldn't do and die a cold hard death. That's what you're good for Eria, killing the ones you want to help. So for...the what three times your life was made better by me you're welcome.

Finally, Arthur. What can I say? You suck...and you won't stop sucking. You, you saved us from the Madara...God's cruelest joke. Someone whose total existence and power base comes from other people...wins a fight! HILARIOUS! I mean lets be clear: demigod blood comes from daddy, Keyblade powers probably comes from one of those large collection of crutches I mean friends, Dogbert was probably given to you and Eria, well the remotely useful version, was a gift from me! What's the theme I'm getting at...you're welcome. 
 

Dorian finished his rant panting slightly and the fires died down. Well it looks like the Black Rukh are strong within you for a reason. I've been wanting to say that for a while. So the vessel, its a human? That is useful information. I can say if it wasn't for Ms. Tenco back there I would have killed them all already. So this puts us in a weird position. Gyokuen turns around and looks at Ms. Tenco but the malice and bloodlust is clear in her eyes. So what shall you do now Ms. Tenco? Will you walk away from this fight that you yourself have no stake in or will you intervene?

Ending Location B6

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Tenco"

Pathway of Death, B6

 

"...What."

 

Whatever was happening before her, Tenco could barely comprehend it. Everything went on far too quickly, and she could barely even understand the things Dorian said in his long and comprehensive rant towards the other group, though it did figuratively drop her jaw to the floor due to how unexpected and impressive the entire thing was, maybe. All that she could process at that time was the fact that the bad blood between Dorian and Eria and her boyfriends were pretty thick. Oh, and Gyokuen was definitely someone unpleasant, if that needed more emphasis. There was also the mention of how Arthur, which Tenco assumed to be the guy on Eria's side, had his entire powers and everything else coming from somewhere else. That...really made her wince for a bit, for a reason only she knew at that moment.

 

But, even then, Tenco was pretty much almost speechless at how fast what looked like a peaceful meeting could go south this badly, and the situation was probably unsalvageable right now. Though if what she had gotten from Dorian's rant was right, then probably the peaceful meeting and cooperation had been doomed from the start to fail anyways, since he did mention that him being an amnesiac was just a ruse. Being lied to like that was honestly pretty annoying, especially since they're supposedly on the same side this time. Sighing, Tenco looked around at Eria and her boyfriends to see what was their reaction to the rant, but her attention was then taken by that the mecha-wolf-thing...uh, MirageGaogamon, who looked like he was ready to charge at Gyokuen. And then, as if she didn't care about the fact that the mecha-wolf was ready to attack her like a raging bull would, said woman proceeded to turn her attention to Tenco, this time with her eyes turning menacingly red, filled with maliciousness. A recipe for trouble, most definitely.

 

"So what shall you do now Ms. Tenco? Will you walk away from this fight that you yourself have no stake in or will you intervene?"

 

"Uh..."

 

Realizing how frantic and messed up her mind had become due to the development of events, the bluehead shook her head a bit as she attempted to muster her composure to not look silly and be able to actually decide on what she would do next. Looking at Gyokuen straight in her eyes, she then shifted her gaze to Dorian, then to Eria, and then to her boyfriends, still thinking on what she would do right now. As a relative outsider to the conflict, Tenco should rationally just leave the six of them alone and mind her own business, but she admittedly was not in a condition to continue on the pathway alone, and as much as she knew Dorian was definitely not someone to trust to especially after his rant (though admittedly that rant did make the other party look similarly untrustworthy and messed up, at least for Tenco, even with all the lying to her stuff and the fact that Dorian indirectly insulted her when he ranted about Arthur), from all of the people right there, she knew Dorian for longer, even if the difference was like, what, 15 minutes? Though the time barely mattered. And Tenco didn't really feel like backing from what she had intended to do before.

 

"Well...I think..."

 

As she said that, Tenco conjured six red swords that floated around her, before walking towards Dorian and turning around to face the other team. Her expression was that of a clear exasperation, as if she was wishing that she was not there at that moment. Taking a deep breath before continuing, she then finished her answer to Gyokuen's question.

 

"I'll stay here. And if I have to fight, I'll fight now on his side. Wouldn't be fair if this is a 4 versus 2, right?

 

This is really awkward...and I'd still rather that we all can just be at peace and go finish the pathway as a group rather than having this silly debacle here, but I guess it can't be helped. As a Counter Corps member I should've been on the other side right now, but I just can't bring myself to abandon him.

 

However," Tenco pulled her scarlet sword, and pointed it at Gyokuen's neck, all the while her other swords turned their blades towards the magus. "I'm not saying that I'm on your side now. Don't try something funny again.

 

Anyway..." Satisfied with how she gave that weak threat to Gyokuen, Tenco then shifted her attention back to Eria and her boyfriends. "Before all hell break loose, let me ask this once more, since I really am not a fan of anyone here fighting each other. So, anyone here still in the favor of getting together in peace?"

 

In retrospect, it might be a bad decision to ask that question considering the context of the situation.

 

---

 

Yakumo Yukari

Pathway of Truth, A12-14

 

It was quite momentary, but Yukari could notice that when the pathway uttered its question, Gemini made his presence apparent once more, enough to give his own answer to the pathway's question before disappearing once more as sudden as he appeared. Yukari was slightly annoyed that she was not fast enough to react to Gemini's appearance to put a seal around him, even if she knew that it wouldn't be enough to handle the bastard. Him reappearing and disappearing just like that was a bitter reminder of Yukari's powerlessness at that moment. Had she managed to get the full extent of her power right now, she would've been able to outright manipulate the boundary between Neos and Gemini and separated the two permanently just so she could actually get to handle him. Yukari sighed at that thought as she stared at Neos a bit before returning her gaze towards the jewel before her, who seemingly had repeated its question once more.

‘Are you content with your present self’?

 

There was that, the question that would lead her to the end of this journey once answered. Answering it should be simple, and Yukari was perfectly sure she had the answer within her after all that happened inside of the mirror, and her reaffirmation of her actual identity. Of course she would be able to give the answer the pathway wanted, no?

 

"I..."

 

However, Yukari couldn't bring herself to answer it. There was still something else that she needed before she could actually have the answer to the question. Her answer would not be the right one at that moment. She faced the bird form Neos had taken right now once more, and decided to tell him what was on her mind.

 

"You should go ahead first, Neos. There's something that I still need to do here. Don't waste your time waiting for me here."

 

After saying that, Yukari turned around to see the vast skies behind her. A smile was visible from her weary face.

 

"There's someone that I still need to wait for here."

 

---

 

Kazuya Minegishi

Pathway of Death, A7

 

"An enemy...?"

 

Seeing the figure in the distance, Kazuya readied himself as he immediately suspected that it was an enemy. And his guess this time didn't seem to be far off from the mark, as the figure soon was clearly a demonic-looking doppelganger of Ayame. That was probably the form of challenge the pathway decided to throw at them this time, and it seemed that Ayame was pretty eager to handle this one by herself.

 

"Ultimate enemy huh, so that's what this obstacle is. I've beaten you before though, and I can do it again."

 

Ayame moved forwards confidently as she flicked her staff from her back, while the doppelganger picked up a sword and readied itself for the upcoming clash.

 

"Ayame, should I help you with this one or would you be able to handle this on your own?"

 

However, before he could get an answer from her, Kazuya's attention was then taken as he heard a familiar voice coming from the distance. And for some reasons, as the voice became apparent to him, his COMP suddenly malfunctioned and Amaterasu was forcefully de-summoned. At the very least, the harmonizer function was still active for the most part, and Kazuya felt that he could still cast his skills. Approaching Ayame again, Kazuya told her about the thing.

 

"Nevermind, I think I'd be occupied with my own enemy somewhere soon, and my COMP had seemingly malfunctioned for no reasons.

I'll help you when I can, though."

 

---

[Reinforce]

Chandra

Pathway of Death: A1

 

As she watched on, Jace's thoughts were ringing through her mind again, this time cursing the existance of love as he sunk deeper into his own depression. Abruptly, a different scene superimposed itself over the top of the world around her, showing her the scene happening inside the mage's mind. With even the Soul of Ravnica showing up fully inside the mental vision, it seemed almost like she was intruding on a moment, the other three talking while all she could do was watch. 

 

"When We were on the verge of self-destruction by way of the Supreme Verdict, you had the chance of leaving Us behind and think nothing more of it. Instead, you chose to return and ultimately saved Us all single-handedly by yourself, even at the cost of requiring your mind to be reforged for a second time after it became unraveled."

 

Almost to herself, Chandra muttered, "Wow, I wouldn't have thought of Jace as a selfless enough person to do that sort of thing." Then, at almost the same time the blue mage thought it, Chandra spoke a similar thought. 

 

"Wait, a second time? So he's had his mind broken twice now already. No wonder he's so strange then."

 

Ending Location: A1

 

---

 

Darcy

Pathway of Truth: E5

 

Once she was done studying the scene in the mirror, Darcy walked on through, finding herself in an area remarkably similar to what she'd seen reflected. Moving on forward through the ruined landscape, Darcy strode through the burnt out trees, shifting over to flying low through the area as the ground underneath grew more and more unstable. Though, flying wasn't much easier, with violent gusts of wind trying to throw her around as she continued on. As she approached the crystalline corridors, a figure appeared before her, looking like it was made purely of shadows as the wind blew and disrupted the figure. Once she'd slowed to a stop in front of it, the being spoke, not yet attacking as it asked a question.

 

"Why do you fight under others when they always betray you before the end?"

 

"That's ... Why do I keep fighting for others?"

 

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking."

 

"I don't actually know though. We fought for Darkar because he offered us power before betraying us. Baltor was because we all got crushes on him after he brought us back from the Omega Dimension, as well as offering us power too. Tritannus offered us power, and we continued to follow him for a time because Icy got a crush on him. Isamy and Protheus both offered me access to the doorway and it's powers, and Isamy also gave me the Dragon's Flame."

 

Working through that, Darcy's thoughts figured out the one constant factor in all that.

 

"That's why, I've been fighting under others because they keep offering and granting power for doing so. Though, Protheus hasn't actually given me any sort of power boost, and he's more likely to betray us than actually grant us access to the door. Though, even if he does, I doubt I'll actually need his permission to enter the door after it opens anyway."

 

"You've found your answer then."

 

"Indeed, my answer is power."

 

With a twisted smile, the shadow vanished in a particularly strong gust of wind, leaving her path clear once more.

 

Ending Location: E8/E9

[Phantom Roxas]

[Death B6] - Arthur, Eria, MirageGaogamon, & Gagagigo

 

Tenco claimed to be a member of the Counter Corps, but none of them could recognize her. She must be one of Arturia’s latest recruits. And yet, why align herself with Dorian? Even if she denied being on Gyokuen’s side, trusting Dorian was bound to be a horrible mistake. Then again, they came here for that same reason, so they couldn’t exactly hold it against her.

 

”Alright, Dorian.” Arthur glowed with the light of Apollo, although the darkness of the Pathway fought against him, so the light was diminishing just as it was appearing. ”I’ll break it down for you. Eria and Gagagigo aren’t ‘cards’. They may be in your world, but they aren’t in mine or MirageGaogamon’s, and certainly not in their own. If anything, that they’re here at all should prove that you have no place treating them like cards. If you’re expecting any of us to be grateful for letting us live, don’t count on it. The idea of us being kept alive is something you can latch onto only because you’re the one who put us in danger in the first place. I’d say they negate each other, so if you don’t want me to snap at you, then fine, but you don’t get a ‘thank you’, so the most you deserve would be me not saying anything to you. But that wouldn’t get us anywhere, now, would it? I worked with you Divine for… about five minutes as far I’m concerned, and I owe it to Eria for that, but I’m still here.”

 

”If I may,” Gagagigo added. ”No offense, but I believe that you and I have walked similar roads in the past, and those may have taken us away from what’s right. And yet, Eria guided us back. She saved us, and now the power of Slifer rests within her. Dorian, don’t you dare try to make the mistake of underestimating Eria. She’s a greater hero than you will ever be, so know your place.”

 

”No offense taken. Besides, this Pathway has told you and I won’t make it through this unless we each do this on our own. And then there’s you, Dorian. Think about it. Gagagigo and I supposedly won’t make it out of here unless we cut all our ties with Eria, and yet here I am, trying to reason with you. If I’m going to listen this stupid ‘holier than thou’ Pathway, then I’d run from Eria, and I sure as hell wouldn’t be working with you. But I’m not doing either of that. And that’s all because I’ll follow Eria to the end of the line.”

 

If they weren’t risking their lives trying to negotiate with two quite-possibly-but-closer-to-definitely psychopaths, Eria would’ve kissed him for that. ”Thanks, you guys.” Eria stood between Arthur and Gagagigo, holding their hands. ”And besides, Dorian, even if Arthur’s power comes from other people, that isn’t at all a bad thing. He beat the Madara because he earned that power, but the Madara kept just trying to take and take from everyone else. Sora gave Arthur a Keyblade because Arthur proved that Sora should have faith in him. He didn’t even want his father’s power at first, and yet he’s come this far on his own. MirageGaogamon is his friend, not some lackey like Butler is to you, or the slave you tried to make me for him! I love Arthur, and that has nothing to do with the power you gave me. The only thing we owe you is that you’re the first person we fought together to stop. You and Butler are quite possibly the only people left in this whole war that we could possibly hate as much as Protheus. And yet, in spite of all that, I’m not going to fight you not now. If you want a fight, go right ahead. But if you still think Arthur is a joke, if any of us are anything less than heroes who have endured this entire war just as you have, even after saving you from the Madara, can you really say, with absolute certainty, that you won’t need us against Protheus? There’s no way I’ll help Protheus, but really, that you went for a plan like that does tell me this: We’re still of better use to you alive.”

 

MirageGaogamon flew up close to Tenco, bowing to her. ”I’d rather not offer further commentary beyond what they’ve said, so while I will not disagree with them about Dorian, I will not hold it against you if you choose to work alongside him. If you say are with the Counter Corps, then I must ask. What do you wish for at the end of this war?”

[Tesability Black]

~Counter Corps - Path of Truth - Neos' POV~

"There's someone that I still need to wait for here."

The bird that Neos had become gave a slow nod to the youkai, sensing her momentary displeasure at Gemini's sudden arrival and disappearance, before catching in the corner of its vision an increase of glow from the jewel next to it. Turning its feathered head towards the jewel, it could see the core of the jewel beginning to glow, possibly in anticipation of something. Without thinking about it, Neos raised a wing and placed it against the purple jewel, hoping something would happen.

But like with the tablet on the Path of Death, nothing appeared to happen with its touch, prompting the false Pidgeot to smack it quite hard with its wing before pressing its forehead against the stone.

If this form was capable of it, it would be shedding tears.

Let me go forward on my own, dammit, was the thought running through its head as it closed its eyes. Neos was stuck, and since Gemini had already moved out of the area, it couldn't seem to do a damned thing about it. Why are you making me need him, he's just a poisonous bastard that I wish I could get rid off...

"Why am I not allowed to move forward past any of these paths on my own?!" With eyes still closed did it let off a terrible shriek as it raised its beak towards the sky above, the jewel still acting as a form of translation tool for the Pokemon, though Neos no longer cared about such a fact. "Am I not my own being?!"

It wasn't sure why it happened, but the Pidgeot's form became smaller at first, to the familiar blob-like shape that was its Ditto form before growing back in size and shape, back to the familiar human form it so often took. In this new form did Neos fall to his hands and knees, tears falling from his eyes. He tried to open his mouth and say something, but when the words wouldn't come from his throat was when he realized the overall enchantment on the Path.

That he cannot lie here.

Which meant he couldn't affirm to himself that he was indeed his own being with his own voice.

"How pathetic."

A growl that almost evolved into a roar midway left his throat as he picked himself up, slowly looking up towards the source to see Gemini actually sitting upon the jewel as if it was a backless chair. "Of course you aren't your own being. Our shared creator won't allow for us to just split like that. Now I suggest trying to get through before I get bored and disappear again." A grin then appears on his face, one that reflects pleasure for him, but displeasure for anyone else. "I look forward to seeing Mr. Beleren's reaction to seeing that his original outfit has been consumed then replaced by plants."

Neos meant to try to climb up the crystal to punch Gemini off it. However, as soon as his hands made contact with the transparent purple did both Gemini and disappear, engulfed by a light the same color as the jewel...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Counter Corps - The White Room - Neos' POV~

And once again, the false human's back connected with the cracked floor of the White Room, creating a third point of impact upon the otherwise-unblemished floor.

However, unlike the other two landings, Neos just continued to lay there, crossing his arms over his chest so that his hands interlocked with each other. His eyes basically stared at the blank ceiling, feeling momentarily dead to the world.

He didn't exist.

He was a creation.

He was a tool for someone else's purpose.

As his thoughts continued, his hands gripped together tightly enough for his nails to break his skin and cause him to bleed, creating a pain he only barely registered.

His journey was all determined by another.

Earth, Hydaelyn, Terra, Ravic...wait.

Terra?

Finally sitting up and moving into a cross-legged position, he separated and placed his hands upon his hands, closing his eyes for a moment.

"...where in the Distortion is this 'Terra'," he dared to ask himself, trying to recall anything, but nothing came to mind. It was at that moment that he felt for the first time a huge gap within his memory, between when he left Hydaelyn and when he arrived upon the Ravnica plane...and even then...several portions of his time on Ravnica was severely hosed. From what he remembered of Jace, it wasn't like him to leave noticeable holes in a person's memories, especially in the chopped way it was left behind.

...person...

And a small, pained sideways smirk appeared on his face as he leaned his head forward. "...heh, even when practically told to my face that I'm not even real, I still consider myself a person...how dense am I...?"

Slowly did he get up onto his feet before walking towards the last remaining door and opening it...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~Counter Corps - Path of Remembrance - Neos' POV~

Of all things he could have expected, walking into a proverbial equal of a winter wonderland was not one of them. The snow managed to get up to his knees in depth, which was almost impressive to him. Dragging his legs through the snow, he could see nothing around him but incredibly-high stone walls and the deep white snow around him. And if he dared to look up high and listen carefully, he could hear the brewings of a violent snowstorm above him.

"Well, that screws flying through this as Pidgeot," he muttered to himself as a shiver found itself crawling up his spine. "Ay, yikes, not good."

Unfortunately, he knew that if he had tried to shift into his Ninetales form here, the snow would melt and he'd become surrounded by a pool of water that could easily refreeze around him into ice that kept him in place. So, to his discomfort, he rubbed his hands over his exposed lower arms and moved forward, trying not to focus on the cold and seeing absolutely nothing but white until he passed what looked like a stone structure to his left and two more openings in the stone wall for other small pathways to lead to where he was. Passed the statue was a long area of snow-covered forest, to which he gave a smirk to. And so, he sat crossed-legged near the base of the statue for now...and waited for someone he was waiting to see, so that he could get underneath the trees and warm back up afterwards...

Ending Point: A2

[Dad]

Killua, Pathway to Truth

 

Killua stared blankly at this figure.  She knew him by name, with no apparent recollection of his own.  She was dressed like an average high-school or college student, but that clearly was not the case.  She just appeared, out of thin air.  This was odd in that Killua had never met her before, but he cautiously decided to play along.  With his guard up, he addressed the woman before him.

 

"You know my name, but we've never met."  Killua was agitated, clearly.  "Give me one reason I should listen to anything you have to say."

 

 It wouldn't take much for Killua to ignore whomever this person was and continue on.  It was obvious she had a connection to the dragon, and if that was the case, it would be in his own best interest to follow up on his earlier thoughts.  He should press on and try to get ahead, to save his home world.  Why stay and be bothered with this?  Killua stood straight up and folded his arm, waiting for a logical, fathomable explanation as to how this woman knew his name.  And the moment she said anything about being a cosmic entity, god, or having the ability to read his mind, he would vanish.  There was enough of that in his life already.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

 

Kenpachi, Kratos, & Revy, Prologous

 

Kenpachi landed just below the Avatar, as it continued to rant and rave.  Revy found her own attacks to be completely unsuccessful, as were Kenpachi's.  Physical direct attacks appeared to be ineffective.  However, when Kratos enhanced his physical attack with magical properties, he at least caused the Avatar to reel in annoyance.  This would prove to be an observation he could use again later.  Kenpachi sighed, thinking carefully about what had just happened.  It was almost as if the Avatar knew he was coming.  But how did it avoid Nozarashi's slash, but was still barraged by Kratos' Atlas Quake?  Nothing came to mind, as Kenpachi made space between himself and the enemy.  Revy was also bewildered, but one of three attacks landing was progress.

 

And now, when the Avatar took notice of more entities in the area, Kenpachi and Kratos both recognized their names.

 

More nuisances? Rhadamanthys of the Underworld, Butler of some vague Yugioh universe, and Ragnarok, Demon Sword from Shibusen. 

 

Rhadamanthys and Butlerok had shown up now, and the Avatar was quick to attempt to negate the effects of Mad Blood that would soon be upon it.  The trio watched Butlerok rain down a mass of powerful light on the avatar,  as  two pillars began to have storms form above them.  The Avatar had taken on a new form, rooting itself in place as it spewed filthy magic all over the ground around it.  Kratos, Revy, and Kenpachi stepped quickly away from the immediate area, rolling, flipping, dodging, and dashing backwards to avoid whatever was being spat at them.  "Acid?" Revy asked aloud as she watched the sinister powder like substance touch the ground.

 

"I don't wanna find out," Kenpachi replied.  Kenpachi turned to Kratos, nudging his shoulder as he pointed to the pillars with storm clouds forming above them.  "See that?"  Kratos noticed the pillars right away.  He had seen something similar to this a long time ago in the depths of Hades.  But with hellfire instead.  "We should be rid of this," Kratos said drawing his blades.  Kenpachi nodded.  "Back us up," Kenpachi said to Revy.  She nodded, as Kratos and Kenpachi separated.  Each of them dashed towards the pillars.  It was dangerous to get close, as the Avatar's putrid substance sat around the pillars, and so Kenpachi and Kratos would attack them from a distance.  

 

With a drawback, Kenpachi launched a three pronged attack as he threw a high, mid, and low slash of reiatsu at the pillar before him.  On the opposite side, Kratos leaped high and came down with massive force, now directing his Atlas Quake directly at his own opposing pillar.  The ground cracked and rippled before him, now lifting and folding becoming a wave of massive tile, growing as it prepared to crash down upon the second pillar nearest him.

[The Warden]

|_)The Evangelist Hapshiel(_|

|_)Inside his Mind(_|

 

Hapshiel was completely unbothered by the Soul of Ravnica's appearance, invaders having been the norm as of recent. "Your friend is quite correct. Love comes in every shape and form, and it can be cruel as it is truly wonderful. If love was always good, it would lose what makes itself special: The fact that is unpredictable. Whether you know it, or accept you, are just as capable of love as anyone else. I think it's about time you left now, your lady friend is quite concerned about you" Hapshiel grinned.

 

Grabbing Jace by the hem of his robe, he gave the Mind Mage a quick peck on the cheek, before hurling him into the sky, and out of his mind.

 

 

|_)Pathway of Death: A1(_|

 

Hapshiel blinked rapidly as Jace was punted out, but, despite the weight receding from his brain, he still kept his calm demeanour. "I hope you see my point now" Hapshiel said to Jace's body.

 

 

 

[[Another Time, Another Place: Prologuous]]

 

 

The Avatar was calm like a gentle lake as Butlerok began his unnecessarily over-the-top attack high above his form. The middle of the flower split apart, allowing his enormous white eye to gaze through the slit. All visible pupils constricted like pinpricks as they saw it coming.

 

 

The Mad Blood has been looked into, and I now see the key to my victory. As for the attack, it is rather feeble, and easily withstood. But it should be best to show that insect that he cannot harm me. Foolish fiend, you think your empty lights can even reach me? Allow me to show you your folly. DESPERATE SPACE!

 

 

As the enormous beam of red light, a small black void appeared above the Avatar. It was roughly a foot wide, and was the Avatar's only defence against the attack. And it worked, quite effectively. The focal beam twisted around the black void, every iota of the spell being pulled into the void and wiped from existence until the attack ended. All that effort, and the demon butler had nothing to show for it as the small void faded away into nothingness.

 

 

I would call that an admirable effort, but that would require me to actually find something worth admiring about you. Although, I am quite fascinated, in truth, by the large volume of souls you have tucked away in yourself. Yes indeed, many valuable, and powerful souls. One of the many Captain Yamamotos of Soul Society, how quaint. Although, I am quite curious, as you no doubt would, as to what would happen if so many souls were to experience a... soul, rejection? I'm sure you, Ragnarok, know quite well the lethal effects it can have between a Meister and Demon Weapon wielder when their souls just aren't compatible.  So, let's perform an experiment, and see what happens when every soul in your body is simultaneously rejecting every other soul. I'm sure it would be quite the spectacle, as souls are an excellent source of energy for highly destructive explosions. It will take some time to prepare, so do try to keep me entertained while I prepare you to annihilate everyone around you. As for the others, say farewe-

 

 

The Avatar only took pause as he caught sight of the other trying to assault the Pillars. A fool's endeavour when it is impossible to harm them in the first place.

 

 

Oh, really now? You foolish insects think you can harm those pillars? To do so would be to harm the Pathways themselves, which is impossible. What you are merely trying to do is waste your time and energy. If you sincerely want something to reflect on, then allow me to grant you your desires. Pillar of Truth: Guidance to Nullity!

 

 

The blue Pillar of Truth reacted to the Avatar's call, the storm formed from the Avatar's powder fluctuating and growing, letting off three bolts of lightning. They each struck the heads of Kenpachi, Kratos, and Revy with the Guidance to Nullity. What could be called the partner of Vanity's Emptiness, Guidance to Nullity assaults the mind for the same time frame as Vanity's Emptiness does. While it works, Guidance to Nullity draws up every single one of your worst memories, and plays all of them on a loop for the full time frame. What is ten seconds feels like a lifetime as you are forced to witness the truth of what a terrible person you truly are.

 

 

Preparing Soul Nova. Ten Percent and counting.

[Love of Ghibli]

Butlerok and Rhadamanthys: Prologuous

 

Butlerok looked on as his Gregorian Choir was consumed by...something. He rolled his eyes in mild annoyance and yet it was valuable information for him to rant all of that business about soul rejection. Oh that's what's happening? That's not too bad I mean who would that realistically kill. Us for about five minutes, Rhadamanthys would live for sure, but the question is about all of the others who are currently here. Right we need them. Wait so does this mean we have to go with...which of your annoying back-up plans? The fourth one. Come on, that's the one I hate most! It is the only option. I hate life. 

So you are time bomb now. I must say I'm almost impressed your world can do that. Its mostly Ragnarok. Your plan of action? Basically a series of mathematical equations that will most likely fail but will render the concept of soul rejection useless. My consciousness will cease to exist but this body will be here. A lifeless doll? Definitely not lifeless. Rhadamanthys raised an eyebrow in inquiry. Clearly they spoke in riddles that will be solved later now was the time for him to vanquish this beast. As the mobile army moved forward they had finally arrived to the battlefield where it looked like Kenpachi, Kratos and some other female were being tortured with some kind of mental technique.

Of course they're here I guess they finished their pathways before us. Rhadamanthys said stating the obvious. Now I'll show this creature the true power...Wait, do not waste you energy. Butlerok interjected. What? You cannot harm that creature. How do you know? Your attacks, while devastating and normally very effective because of the sheer nature of Cosmos, will not harm that creature. Simple, look at everyone who is here. Other than Kenpachi's Nozarashi I think all of these fighters can only deal attacks that damage the physical body. My Gregorian Choir is a purely destructive magical force coupled with Kratos' Olympian magic the creature is clearly annoyed with the efforts. Second, the douchebag is forcing soul rejections! Chibi Ragnarok exclaimed as he revealed himself. Your time bomb issue? Yes, but that is the thing that's impossible to force on me! Soul rejection is when the weapon and the meister soul wavelengths do not resonant. Like the name suggests one rejects the other. That's a bond issue though! Only I can do that to people and even then its not rejection, I just prohibit full on resonance. That being said if this entity can force a soul rejection then he is more of a concept and not a real opponent. And trust me when I say it is foolish to try to hit a concept.

So what do we do? We need you to protect us while we prepare our countermeasures. It doesn't seem like his destructive capabilities can grossly outweigh yours so you would be the perfect bodyguard. Also I'm going to have to eat all of these souls from Hades underworld which will potentially make this worse but it won't matter given the high probability for my success. As he spoke a huge wave of Mad Blood flooded the 3333 ghouls and consumed them. Their tormented souls leaving their corpses and fueling Ragnarok even more. Ugh guard duty...Is this what final battle has been reduced too. Tunnel vision Rhadamanthys, tunnel vision it doesn't matter what the final battle is like as long as we make our specific goals in the end.

 

Dorian and Gyokuen: Path of Death

 

Dorian could only widen his eyes as these fools spouted such nonsense in response to his absolute truths. He did his best to stomach all of the noise from them, but one thing Eria said completely snapped his nerve. MirageGaogamon is his friend, not some lackey like Butler is to you, or the slave you tried to make me for him!  WHAT THIS TWAT MIST JUST SAY!  Eria continued to state her claim but the vast majority of her words were lost to the man as his eyes were turning red with rage. When she was done talking it and MirageGaoGamon flew past him Dorian was completely silent. Dorian spoke very carefully as he wanted these 4 to hear the severity of his words. You will never talk about my relationship with Butler. Ever! Butler has been by my side far far longer than you could probably imagine. Do not label my relationship with you shallow interpretations. Just as I won't talk about the absurdity of saying the word "love" to someone you've met less than a week ago. You have no concept of bonds, you don't understand what it truly means to see adversity through with another person. Both of you just gravitated to the one person on any faction who wouldn't make you feel inadequate. For this you will burn, you will fry and there will be no peace until I take your heart from you bodies. Dorian cracked his fingers as he was about set them all ablaze when Gyokuen stepped forward and blocked his path with her staff. 

The malice in her eyes was very transparent as it was clear that Ms. Tenco was not going to directly oppose her. You are right in some respects. In order for the plan against Protheus to have any modicum of success your help will probably be needed. Even if its just as meat shields. But in that same respect you are incorrect. I have not heard anything that doesn't support the theory that you are not some vessel and these other creatures are not some transporters who are here to ensure your safe keeping. Unfortunately it sounds like you were an empty vessel until Dorian put something in you. A slight snicker for the joke she realized she just dropped. Am I too surmise that you started with three Divine Beast and now you have one. If this is correct, under your watch you have significantly reduced not only the combat strength of the anti-Protheus faction but also the Counter Corp as a whole. I've lead factions before I know hardships of failure. Let Dorian and I do you a favor. Return the Slifer to us, let us absolve you of your burden, and just so we're fair we'll even assist the angry boy who's going to inevitable join me anyway with his transition to the dark side. Gyokuen extended her hand as one last polite gesture. If you take your emotion out of the equation, you'll see this is the most logical course of action. 

Ending Location: B6

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

The Path of Remembrance:
 

Once he was finished speaking, he threw a glance over his shoulder as if to coldly ask the former goddess ‘Is that enough of a reason?’.

She stood there, stunned. She hadn’t even considered the possibility that, like her, he was scared of true death, of his immortality not being enough to ensure his survival. Of course, the difference between the two of them is that Itsu had learned from this, and accepted her new deteriorating state. She had reconstituted herself after being split into Izumi and Yuki...but only barely. Itsu, the Extinguished Sun, figured she had hours at most before the rest of the multiverse enacted itself upon her and rectified her, once and for all. But his callousness, his selfish outlook, did not seem like the Protheus she knew. Or, if it was, then she truly did not understand him at all. “You could have asked me for help.” She replied, soberly. “I am a goddess. I have immense power. I could have helped to protect you…”

For a long, long moment, only silence hung in the air as the dark sorcerer remained silent at her words. The trees shook gently by a strong wind, and more snow continued to fall down from the grey sky above them, slowly filling up the air. It was almost as though this scenery was representing his own heart, signifying that a burning fire had long since gone out. “Perhaps that… that could’ve been so.” Protheus ultimately admitted, turning his gaze down towards the floor, uncertainty crossing his expression for an instant, before it was replaced with a hardened look. His fists clenched. “However, how long would a star last? A million years? Perhaps a dozen billion? It’s true, I may not be able to imagine time on such a galactic scale yet, but I’m sure we both know, Itsu, even something like that would’ve only been delaying the inevitable… And besides, look at you! For a sun goddess, you’re still ridiculously young, and yet due to outside circumstances, you’re now on the brink of death as we speak…!”

She frowned at him, similarly upset at him, as he was at her. She had had plenty of billions left, yet now, she was at her limits. “I was dying before I came here! Your actions started to unravel me! I came here to try and prevent that, but...I created my own demise by trying to stop it…” Briefly, she wondered if she had joined the right side. She would no longer exist if the Counter Corps won, but she might be able to reunite with Protheus and restore herself if they worked together...the temptation was powerful, but she resisted. It wouldn’t be right. She would be using the power of Origin for something it should not be used for. She shook her head at him. “It would have been quite a long time, but yes, there would have been an end. Such is the nature of the universe. It explodes, it expands, and either compresses back onto itself, or dissipates into nothingness. Welcome to Entropy 101.” She started forwards, away from him. “As for me, I guess I need to live long enough to see you in person, and figure out some way for us to reconcile. I know that this can’t be an act of desperation. You’re smarter and stronger than this…” She sighed, hoping she wasn’t lying to herself. “I know this.”

Then, less than a second later, "Do you really?” Rather than bothering to respond to her words, the man called Protheus Maximus closed his eyes, put his arms behind his back, and begun to walk off by himself, disappearing into the shadows of the snowy forest. “...Itsu Fudo, do you really believe that?”

She simply stood there for a bit before focusing back on trudging through the forest, hoping not to encounter any further spirits.

Now sure of her answer, she simply said "Yes." At that, a white doorway opened up in front of her, and she once more entered the White Room to select her next destination.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Tenco"

Pathway of Death, B6

 

After she had made her stance on this conflict clear, Tenco watched as Eria and her boyfriends replied to Dorian's rant with their own argument. She honestly quite liked the way they argued in defense to Dorian's accusation, and she was a bit relieved that they're at least not immediately going for a straight up battle to settle the issue. Not long after, MirageGaogamon flew towards her. Tenco was slightly uncomfortable standing beside the huge mecha-jet-wolf-thing, but he's seemingly not too bad of an individual. And thus, for that reason she listened to him when he started to speak to her.

 

”I’d rather not offer further commentary beyond what they’ve said, so while I will not disagree with them about Dorian, I will not hold it against you if you choose to work alongside him. If you say are with the Counter Corps, then I must ask. What do you wish for at the end of this war?”

 

"Well, I...uh..."

 

That was the last question she wished to hear at that moment. After being tormented to no end about it by the pathway, even with her finding enough resolve to ignore that for now, Tenco couldn't still get herself to actually figure out an actual future that she wanted. After all, returning home was not really an option, as much as she wished to be able to return there. An awkward silence followed that, until Tenco decided that she'd answer it like that anyway. After all, it's what she wished for now. Even then it was clear that she was still very uncomfortable with that answer, clearly thinking that it shouldn't be her final one.

 

"...I really just wanted to go home. That's it. Back to my old life."

 

As she answered MirageGaogamon's question with that sentence, it was as if she could hear several voices screaming inside of her, pointing out that she wouldn't even have that as an option since she had no old life or home to return to in the first place. Tenco decided to ignore all of that, pushing those thoughts away as she started to have herself vehemently believing that what she just said was what waiting for her in the end of this conflict. It was like thinking optimistically. Since she's supposed to be a cheerful, wide-eyed idealistic optimist, Tenco had herself deciding to believe that constructed answer as the truth.

 

As soon as she answered his question, Tenco turned away from MirageGaogamon to see Dorian once more, just in time as he retorted back at Eria and her boyfriends' arguments.

 

"Just as I won't talk about the absurdity of saying the word "love" to someone you've met less than a week ago. You have no concept of bonds, you don't understand what it truly means to see adversity through with another person. Both of you just gravitated to the one person on any faction who wouldn't make you feel inadequate. For this you will burn, you will fry and there will be no peace until I take your heart from you bodies. "

 

She could only notice that part from his speech, but it was enough to start annoying the blunette. Once again, Dorian had seemingly managing to indirectly insult her when he was addressing that man on Eria's team. As much as it should just be a coincidence, that mention really riled up the blue-haired girl, and her mood was made worse when Gyokuen started to speak again. As much as she seemed to try making it sound like a fair negotiation for whatever Slifer was supposed to be, even someone as Tenco could notice that it's far from that. All it did is to aggravate the other side, and it completely annoyed Tenco, who didn't really like to actually get into a battle right now. With that in her mind, she proceeded to raise her voice as she attempted to call everyone out of the mess.

 

"...Can you all...Can you all for one second please just stop? Right now we have something more important to do than to just arguing with each other like this. Protheus should still be lurking around and continuing on his way to reach the door right now, and in the meantime we're here smack talking with each other about past incidents and semantics. I'm not related to any of this so I might just overstepping my boundaries here, but seriously, can we just do something more productive like finishing this pathway or actually attempting to beat down Protheus together? This is seriously not a time for personal vendetta or in case of you, Gyokuen, messing around for your own amusement.

SIgh..."

 

Of course, it was overly hypocritical when it came out of Tenco's mouth, though at least the others wouldn't realize that she was being hypocritical. It's not that she actually was being reasonable too, as she's just still completely irritated by the situation and Dorian's constant indirect insults, yet she still refused to leave the man's side for now. Her mind was still probably still in a messy state after the pathway put her into the figurative grinder earlier on. At this point she herself was not sure why she still chose to stay on Dorian's side instead of changing boat or just leaving the conflict behind since she had nothing to do with it, but in the end her mind convinced her to stay. Looking at everyone with her eyes, Tenco then finished her addressing.

 

"Can we all just get along with each other right now?"

 

---

[Kingdom Xathers]

Mind Wanderers

The Dark City - Crumbling Castle

The throne room was falling apart, the roofing falling in great chunks and shattering into particles before they even hit the ground. Red Nova Dragon’s wings were spread wide to block the debris from crushing everyone as Alister wept as he cradled Red’s head.

“What’s happening now?!” Left-Eye blurted out frantically as he and the other Altisters took cover under RND’s wings alongside Alexander.

“Oh no, this is…,” Alexander gasped out, horror showing in his eyes as realization dawned on him. “Red’s mindscape is starting to break down! If we don’t get out of here, it’ll collapse completely, and with US in it!!”

“We can’t leave yet DAMMIT!” Alister sobbed, refusing to let go of Red. “We can’t just leave him here like this!”

“I know, Al,” Alexander agreed tearfully, “I don’t wanna leave Red here like this, either--”

“--THIS SHOULD NOT BE UP FOR NEGOTIATION,” I.T. blared out, the ground cracking beneath his feet. The very sky itself was shaking as clouds dropped from the sky like wounded pigeons, a large crack forming at the base of the moon that slowly serpentined its way up the celestial sphere. “IF WE DO NOT LEAVE NOW, WE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TOO. THIS MINDSCAPE IS FAR TOO DAMAGED TO ATTEMPT RECOVERY.”

“B-B-B-B-But,” Sniffles shivered, “isn’t there s-s-s-s-s-something we can do for Red? We c-c-c-can’t just--”

“--there’s no way for us to pull Red out of his own mind, if that’s what you’re trying to get at,” Alizure interrupted, “not without copying him into the watch as well. Otherwise, Red’s body would be rendered braindead! And the alternative is having him suffer the same fate as the rest of us!”

Alexander yelped loudly as a small piece of rubble conked him on the head. “Alister, I’m sorry, but we have to go. Red’s mind is going to collapse, taking us with him--!”

“I don’t CARE!” Alister shrieked back at Alexander tearfully. “I’m not leaving here without him! I’d rather die at this point!”

“I fear I cannot allow that, General,” uttered Red Nova Dragon, placing Alexander on its back as the Altisters retreated back into Alister’s watch. “I, too, wish for a better alternative for your friend, but--”

“But what? I’m still trying to get my “happy ending”? I’d rather die than have it knowing that I’ve failed yet another friend. If it means becoming yet another Altister, forever trapped within my own damned pocket watch, then SO BE IT!” Alister screamed.

The Cosmic Signer Dragon heaved a sigh at Alister’s despair. “... then know that I am doing this for your own good.” Reaching down, RND flicked a finger against Alister’s forehead, disorienting him as the Signer Dragon proceeded to pluck the General off of Red’s head without much resistance, gripping the lombax tightly within the palm of its hand. “We all must depart from here… there is nothing more we can do for him, Alister Azimuth. I am… deeply sorry.”

On that tone of finality, Red Nova Dragon beat its winged as it kicked off the ground, soaring through the gap in the castle ceiling, and higher towards the shattering skies. All the while, Alister struggled to get free of the Signer Dragon’s grip, managing only to slip on arm out just as he could feel himself and Alexander slowly slipping out of the mindscape. With a pained cry, Alister reached out futilely to the dragon they were leaving behind:

“REEEEEEEEEED!!!!!!!”


As Alister screamed loudly, the entire throne room collapsed, pixelating into lost memories as the rest of the castle followed, leaving behind a lone stone column, Red’s body hanging from it. His neck was hanging haphazardly over the edge as the platform slowly began to crumble, pieces breaking off into chunks as they fell into the abyss. RND was flying over the city as a large crack formed in the middle, the buildings starting to collapse into the Memory Vaults far below. The ground around the town square shattered, the streets falling apart with the foul reminder of Adrastos’ deeds hanging high and dry as a ring of destruction cut around it. “I can’t believe he was stalling us the entire time,” Alexander sighed regretfully.

“Please,” Alister begged as he hung limply in RND’s claw, tears burning up on the dragon’s crimson claws, “please let me go back. I didn’t even get to tell him that I was sorry,” he sobbed bitterly.

Red Nova Dragon simply remained silent as it continued to fly over the collapsing mental image, closing in on the once fortified entryway through which the lombaxes had first entered; it was now crumbling just like the rest of the structures, the two guardian statues now reduced to mounds of rubble. The head of one such statue lay next to the now unhinged gates, its dead-like gaze staring out toward the outside. “You two must leave through here,” the Signer Dragon instructed.

“Screw that!” Alister yelled, struggling in the dragon’s grip. “I’m not going to let him die alone! He’s been alone for too long! If he’s going to die, I’m going to be with him; it’s the least I can do to make it up to him.”

“Cease with this nonsense, General Azimuth!” Red Nova Dragon roared as he held Alister up to his face. “Haven’t you even considered that Red would not want for you to die because of him--?!”

“--it’s because of me that he’s dying in the first place!!” Alister snapped back furiously.

Red Nova Dragon snorted into Alister’s face, clearly done with the lombax’s suicidal self-guilt trip. “The time for blaming one’s self is over, General. You can’t blame yourself for his original state of mind, nor his current! What transpired here had been put into motion long before you came into Red’s life, you must realize this!”

“I! DON’T! CARE!!! I’m not leaving Kaden to die here after all we’ve--!” Alister froze upon realizing what he had just said, a numb expression on his face.

“Enough with the guilt, Alister,” Kaden sighed as he appeared by Alister’s side, placing an arm around his friend’s shoulder. “You can’t take the blame here, Alister, and Red wouldn’t want you dying on his account. Even if… hm…?” Kaden idled off. “Anyone else hear that?”

Alister and Alex cocked their ears, but they couldn’t hear a thing. “I can’t hear anything,” Alex declared.

“Exactly, the rumbling has stopped,” Kaden pointed out.

“Probably because there’s nothing left to destroy,” Alister remarked, slowly edging away from the group.

“All the more reason we should be leaving, this mind and life have almost expired,” RND insisted, staring off with Kaden and Alex in the direction of the rubble. “If we remain here any longer, we will all be destroyed.”

“... fine, let’s go,” Alister sighed despondently.

“I know you don’t want to leave him, Aliste-” *SQUEAK!*

Alex wrenched his arm away from what he thought was Alister, but now all three paused to find that the General had been replaced by a blow-up version of himself, bobbing in the air with a speaker in its chest. “Fine, let’s go. Fine, let’s go. Fine, let’s go,” the speaker repeated ad nauseum.

Alex and Kaden gasped in shock as they glanced back and forth between the blow-up Alister and each other. “... clever girl,” Kaden quipped flatly. “He managed that in the split second we looked away.”

“In any other moment, I’d be impressed, too,” Alexander replied just as flatly as he then stared off towards the crumbling city, a pair of red dots very visible in the air. He tossed a wry eye to his Signer Dragon. “Think you can catch up to him?”

“I’m going to have to,” RND sighed, scooping up Alexander as Kaden faded away.

Alister was already hurtling over the crumbling city, hellbent on making his way back to Red. “I can’t leave yet,” he frantically thought to himself as he hoverbooted his way closer to where he believed Red would be. “I can’t leave yet, I can’t, I just can’t. Not before I’ve apologized for everything… not until I’ve said goodbye….”

The Castle was now just one lone column, and Red was still left lying there. The stone was looking incredibly frail now, and if there wasn’t anything holding it up, it would collapse completely. With quick thinking, a few well placed Cryo Mines froze the column, keeping it together for a few more precious seconds as the upper platform was also given a little extra room. Didn’t help that Red’s upper body was now hanging over the edge, having been moved by the exploding mines. Alister stumbled clumsily as he landed on the column, using his forward momentum to move into a quick run. Transforming the Z-Wrench into his Buster Gauntlets, Alister tugged on Red’s feet, dragging him back onto the platform with his enhanced strength. “Please tell me we still have time,” Alister uttered in a hoarse whisper as he knelt by Red’s head.

“You truly are persistant, Alister Azimuth, I’ll give you that,” Red Nova Dragon called out as he and Alexander came up to the column, the Signer Dragon hovering as close to the top as possible so that Alexander could safely hop across.

“We need to get him to a safer distance, and quickly,” Alister half-instructed as he gently brushed a hand along Red’s scaly eyebrow. “We should never have left him behind in the first place….”

“... you’re right, Al. I’m sorry,” Alexander apologized as he, too, gently pet Red’s head, his hand brushing just above the stub where his other horn used to be. “Red Nova Dragon, we’re gonna need your help in moving Red, at least place him in a more stable spot.”

“The only stable location left is the Town Square,” Alister noted, noticing the large circular island still left behind in the ruined city.

“Then I shall proceed at once,” Red Nova Dragon replied dutifully as it repositioned itself above the column, carefully taking the smaller dragon into its arms before signalling to the lombaxes to hop back on. Once they were all secured, the Signer Dragon flew over towards the Square, seconds before the column’s support weakened enough to fall apart. The castle, Red’s center of mind, collapsed into utter rubble without anyone for it to rely upon.

What had once been the Memory Vault was now slowly turning into an empty abyss, with nothing left within them. “Even his memories are falling apart now,” Alexander grimly noted from his lofty height. “If this keeps up, there may not be anything left to rebuild upon….”

“We still have to try, Alex,” Alister insisted with pleading eyes. “I mean, you once managed to piece yourself back together by reopening your own memories, right? We can do the same for Red, right?”

“We could, yes,” Alexander agreed, “but at this rate, it would be an understatement to say that it won’t be easy. Still, I’m willing to give it my best to help Red recover, even if we have the slimmest chance of success.”

“You won’t be the only one, of course,” Alister reminded Alex as Red Nova Dragon finally touched down in the Square. “And I won’t be the only one, either,” he added as he called out I.T., Too-Dee, Sniffles and Alizure. “We just have to find whatever memories remain and reopen them, right? I would think that they’re no longer sealed up now that Adrastos and Sayer have no hold over this mind.”

“THAT MIGHT BE A PROBLEM,” I.T. declared with a small look of horror. A large crack rent through the city, missing the island by its own detachment. The entire structure sank into the black abyss as the sky shattered, leaving them with nothing but the island and two memories left in a void of nothing. “CORRECTION, THIS IS A PROBLEM.”

“You must hurry, then,” Red Nova Dragon cautioned the lombaxes as it vanished, allowing the others more room to work.

“Why did this island survive?” Alizure questioned, giving off a quick bishie sparkle as he gazed forlornly into the void.

“Maybe because this is the “cornerstone” of Red’s mind,” Alexander mused, “the point from which the rest of his mind developed and branched out. It’s the most stable because this is the origin point.”

“No, that’s not it,” Alister alleged firmly. “It’s not the place, it’s who’s there. Look,” he nodded to the two crucifixes close-by; Both the Memory!Alister and Memory!Spyro were still impaled and tortured on their crosses. “They’re still here. Ratchet and Bianca vanished, presumably alongside the others, but these two are still here, post-mortem granted, but why didn’t they vanish like the rest?”

“M-m-m-maybe it’s b-b-because they’re th-th-th-the two people he c-c-c-c-c-c-cares for m-m-most?” Sniffles suggested, hugging his blanket tightly in the cold empty blackness.

“... think we should get them down from there?” Alexander suggested.

“BEST NOT. THEY’RE TIED PHYSICALLY TO THE TOWN SQUARE. DISTURBING THEM RISKS DESTABILIZING THE ONLY PLOT OF LAND LEFT, AND ALSO RISKS THEM FRAGMENTING. AS YOU GUESSED HALF-CORRECTLY, ALEXANDER, THEY’RE THE CORNERSTONES, AND YOU DON’T MOVE A CORNERSTONE,” I.T. warned. "BUT TIME IS GROWING SHORT. REPAIRS ARE MORE OR LESS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT A COPY OF HIS MEMORIES, AND THERE AREN’T ANY LEFT. SAY YOUR GOODBYES, AND DEPART. THERE IS LITTLE ELSE WE CAN DO NOW.”

“... y’know, for someone who’s supposed to be the Smart Guy here, you sure don’t like to think outside the box, do you, I.T.?” Alister chastised the nerdy Azimuth.

“WHAT--” I.T. blurted out as he removed his thick glasses, “--are you trying to get at, Alister? If you’re going to try and repair his memories yourself….”

“It’s the only chance we have to save Red,” Alister insisted, “at least from the brink of this Void. I am what that construct of me is based off of. If I could just, I dunno, transfer a bit of myself into him, maybe a bit more of Red’s mind will be repaired.”

“The time you spent with him barely encompases a day; what is that versus a lifetime? The only one of us who even knows him that well is Zayon, and he’s refusing to come out,” I.T. protested. “He keeps saying his presence will have the wrong effect.”

“So, what, you’re saying that, once again, I can’t do SHIT for someone I care about?!” Alister snapped furiously, glaring into I.T.’s illuminated yellow irises for a few intense seconds… before dropping his gaze along with his head. “... of course that’s what it is. I’ve never been much help to anyone I’ve ever cared about. I… I always make things worse for them. Kaden died because I didn’t listen to him, I almost destroyed our universe because I wouldn’t listen to Ratchet… and now… … now, Red’s dying because of me. I refused to respect his wishes, all because I wanted to help him, and I was too blind to see the pain I was putting him through. I might as well have been killing him myself! He… … *sob* … Red, I’m so sorry…,” Alister whimpered out as he fell to his knees next to Red’s head, tears pouring down his face.

“...ngh. st….”

Alister’s ears perked up, his heart skipping a beat or two as he heard a faint noise coming from the dragon’s slightly twitching muzzle. “... wha… ...?”

“... stop… blaming yourself… FOR MY OWN MISTAKES!” Red shrieked, gasping loudly as he came too.

Alexander and the Altisters let out a shrill gasp, utterly godsmacked at the sight of Red making such a drastic recovery. Sniffles himself even seemed to pass out from the shock, crumpling into a heap with a loud shattering sound. We kid you not, that wasn’t just a sound effect played for comedic effect. “Uh-oh… looks like we need to put Sniffles back together again,” Alizure quipped as he took a quick glance underneath Sniffles’ comforter. “This happens a lot more often than you’d think.”

“This is beyond impossible. Red came back…, through the sheer force of will to accept the blame,” I.T. uttered, his glasses falling from his hand.

“... y’know, that’s not so surprising, now that I think about it,” Alexander sighed as he facepalmed himself.

The sound of beating wings issued nearby, but they weren’t Red’s as he struggled to a sitting position. “Ugh, what is going… when is…. Hmm, I’ve made a bit of a mess of things, haven’t I?” he said grimly, looking into Alister’s sobbing face.

“Oh my god,” Alister quavered as he looked back into Red’s eyes, a million emotions and questions running through his mind all at once. “Red, I… I don’t know whether to punch you in the face or kiss you, you sonuva…!” he blurted out before he could hold back that thought.

“Please refrain from either, I’m a bit… tender,” Red groaned as he put aside the question of why there were a few other Alisters currently present. He sighed sadly as he stared at the Alister on the cross. “What a mess. What an unancestorly mess.”

“I would agree, if there were even much of a mess remaining,” Alizure quipped as he tied the shattered mess named Sniffles inside the comforter sheet. “We don’t have a lot of room left here, y’know.”

“There are so many questions right now… from both sides. You saw everything, haven’t you?” Red sighed as he unsteadily got to his feet, his legs wobbling as he staggered about like a drunk.

“Well, everything that was “bad”, anyways,” Alister replied with a sniffle as he wiped his face.

“I see,” Red sighed, his head and wings lowered in shame as his tail hung limply. “You must be so ashamed of me,” he quavered.

“... nah,” Alister answered flatly as he shook his head, “not as ashamed as anyone else would be. Honestly, it just showed to me that you and I are a lot more alike than we initially knew. It’s just--”

“--I should have died in that dungeon,” Red declared bitterly. “I should have died, rather than having let myself give in to him… and become Adrastos’ pet.”

“You did what anyone suffering would have done! It’s only natural to want the pain to end,” Alister pleaded.

“I was an Elder, I should have been prepared to die rather than betray my own kind!” Red countered.

“For the LOVE of Tyndarion, KISS HIM YOU FOOL!”

The squabbling “lovers” became distracted by a rather unusual sight: There was another Red standing on the opposite side of the Town Square, except, this one carried himself differently. A hand was placed firmly on his hips as he was facepalming with a hand coated in four fat bands of gold. A black leather harness was secured tightly around his chest, with his medallion as a centerpiece. With the indignity only a soccer mom could manage, he stomped over to the two with incredible speed. “Seriously, that wasn’t an order, just a request to make you stop playing Blame Football,” Other!Red snapped out of frustration. “You were tackling each other over and over and you just knew neither side was going to score any time soon.”

Alister and Red were slack-jawed at the sight standing before them (as were Alexander and the currently remaining Altisters). “Wh… what in the unholiest holy fu--?”

“That’s not one of my mental creations!” Red gasped completely awestruck.

“No, he’s mine.”

Hidden behind the other Red was a rather familiar Altister, who rolled off the side and landed on two feet. Zayon grinned at the two as he held the other Red’s hand tightly. “Sorry I couldn’t make an appearance earlier, I just didn’t want a good opportunity to go to waste.”

Red was completely speechless, deferring to Alister for support of any kind. The seemingly paralyzed General didn’t seem to be in any rush to give it anytime soon.

“Ooooo-ho-ho-ho-ho-HO MY GOD!” Alexander cackled from the sidelines. “So, if Zayon’s here now, that means that THAT Red is--!”

“His "husbando",” I.T. blurted out in the most disgusted tone he could muster. “He built a replica of his own Red in the only place he could have, Red’s own mind.”

“His WHAT?!” Red shrieked loudly.

“DON’T FUCKING LOOK AT ME!!” Alister shrieked in return at the distressed dragon.

The other Red rubbed his temples in annoyance. “Remind me, were we ever like that?” he questioned of Zayon.

“Well, not quite at this level, but it was more due to our Unresolved Sexual Tension, among other things,” Zayon shrugged.

“UST? We did it a day after we met,” Other!Red pointed out.

“Oh, did I say “Unresolved”? I meant “Belligerent”,” Zayon corrected himself.

“I dunno if it was belligerent, it was more like, you were a horny rabbit and I was a bunny who came to the big city for the first time, feeling lost and naive and needed someone to hold them,” Other!Red shrugged, but he couldn’t repress his laughter. “I’ve missed you.”

"Missed you too, big guy," Zayon replied as he booped noses with his Red.

“I think the main me is having an aneurism,” Other!Red noted, watching Red gently foam at the mouth. “I think we need a change of scenery,” he sighed, tapping the stone with his toe. The empty void was warped in milliseconds, becoming a green moonlit sky as they stood atop the cut-off top of an impossibly tall tree. The ground was too far away to even see, with nothing but darkness a mile down. “Brings back some memories, doesn’t it Red?” Other!Red grinned.

“The Tree Tops of the Beast Makers swamp,” Red nodded as he snapped out of his attempt to self-terminate. “A lot of memories here.”

“Like the time we were practicing super charge, and fell off?” Other!Red commented.

“We were saved by some fairies, and became friends until….” Red trailed off, not wanting to complete that memory.

“Sighe, whatever shall I do with you?” Other!Red sighed, rubbing at his temples again.

“Who are you?” Red questioned.

“I’m you, of course,” Other!Red answered playfully, but lost his smile at Red’s expression. “A lighter version of you, from an earlier, errr, timeline, more or less. I was brought in a day earlier than you were, and as such I had more time to get to know my Alister… intimately,” he winked.

“You made a vow!” Red hissed.

“A vow to a dead planet, sweetheart. I figured I might as well take the chance, and it felt good, I should add. I didn’t hear Zayon complaining at all,” Other!Red retorted.

"I'm not complaining either," Alister replied as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "and only because it'd be futile of me at this point. I should ask though, Zayon," he asked the Altister, "that, uh... that one time with, er-hm... with Kaden, was that when you--?"

"--sure was, Al," Zayon answered. "That night in our college dorm room was, er-hem... the moment I realized my bisexuality. I mean, not that there's anything wrong with you staying straight--if not the teensiest bit bi-curious from time to time ("HEY!!")--I just realized that I liked living a bit more, uhh... "openly", I guess you could say."

“And in the end, it proved to be a lot healthier for the both of us,” Other!Red added, standing by his man. “I have never been happier since I started going out with, and eventually marrying Zayon.”

“Well, I’m glad you two are very much happy with your timeline,” Alexander chimed in with a warm smile.

“I’m not sure how to even begin processing it,” Red commented, rubbing his temples.

“Best to try and not think about it. However, now that I think about it, this is all kind of distracting. So if you don’t mind Red, Zayon and I need to borrow Alister for a while,” Other!Red remembered.

“It had better be Safe-For-Work,” Alister half-protested as Zayon took him by the shoulders.

“Oh, come now, Alister,” Zayon sniffed as he dragged the General off to another corner of the tree, “do you really think we’d try and have our way with you at a moment like this? Besides, it’s not like we’ve never seen ourself naked, believe you-me.”

“However, we should make things a bit more, “private”,” Other!Red added, placing a hand on Alister and Zayon’s shoulders. “Take five, I.T., Too-Dee and Alizure,” he added, before the trio vanished.

Red was oddly quiet as the left, considering only Alex was left behind as the Altisters faded without Alister around. “He’s never been… happier?” he repeated aloud.

Alexander nodded, taking a few steps over towards Red’s side. “You think it’s because he managed to open his heart to someone for the first time in so long?” he asked half-cryptically, half-knowingly.

“Had I appeared a day earlier… would that have happened with us as well?” Red pondered.

“Well, maybe not in a way that led to you two eventually getting married,” Alexander replied with a slight chuckle (not at Red’s expense), “but maybe it would have gotten you and Alister a lot closer as friends, as well as being closer to being on the same page… … hmm,” Alexander trailed off as he once more pulled out The Photo from his satchel. “It’s funny, and yet it makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it,” Alexander mused aloud as he looked at The Photo.

“What are you getting at?” Red questioned the lombax, adamantly averting his gaze from looking directly at The Photo.

“... well, think of it this way: Zayon and his Red’s relationship could be a parallel to the one you and Alister could have, minus the romantic undertones. The two of them had to go through their own trials, forming a bond along the way, just as you and Al, well, are sorta trying to get to. And I’m sure you two can become great friends, but, well, it wouldn’t kill you to have a bit more trust in each other (considering not having that trust almost did). We know, having seen your memories, that you’ve lost a lot of people you cared for, Atlas’ death clearly having an impact on you. But you can’t always be afraid to place your trust in other people Red, like you did with Titan once upon a time.”

“Wrong way around: like Titan did with me,” Red corrected him.

“Still, you two shared such a strong bond… at least until the Dark Gem incident… but it was still there. I’m sure that, given time… … uh… I’m sorry,” Alexander sighed, not wanting to reopen wounds by indirectly reminding Red of his world’s destruction.

“The Dark Gems were taken by force from my world, by Isamy. Everyone except me forgot they had even existed. I went from being hated to being treated like I had been there the entire time,” Red explained, though he was bitter in saying it. “I was given another chance, free of charge. I went from people whispering about me as I walked through villages to being greeted like an old friend. I had the adoration of the younger dragons, and a strong rapport with my fellow Elders. And Titan… Titan…. He used to stare at me with such hatred, and now, he greeted me like I was his own son…. It killed me inside to even see him like that,” Red seethed, a bitter tear rolling down his face.

“... you still had that pain,” Alexander mused sympathetically, “that darkness--Adrastos’ darkness--was still inside of you. You remembered what you had done to your world, to the people you cared about. Even if they forgave you for it--even through forgetting--you… you still never forgave yourself.”

“I never had the chance, and it was done for me. I was given a free pass to have my misdeeds forgotten, and, how could one even accept that willingly? Sure, everyone else had forgiven me, but, Titan never had. Him being changed hurt the worst, because I never got to make it up to him. I had wanted to, so much, but now, I don’t even have the chance to do that,” Red quavered, choking a little on his words.

With a sad half-smile, Alexander reached up to touch Red’s hand. “I’m sure, given time, Titan would have forgiven you. Such a bond like the one you two shared, that could never be severed completely. Deep down, I think Titan still cared for you, even if he was too stubborn and upset to admit it."

“It would have taken more than I could have managed. When I was chosen to be an Elder, it was Titan who suggested it, and he was the one who defended his choice against the others. They were always… a little unsettled, around me,” Red sighed.

“Why?” Alexander asked curiously.

“Did you pay much attention to any of the other dragons you saw in my memories?” Red inquired. “Excluding Adrastos, I mean.”

Alexander pondered this for a moment, playing back the memories in his head. “... well, I guess… you look a bit different from the other dragons. Then again, I’ve seen many different kinds of dragons, so I never really noticed right away that there could be such a huge difference amongst the dragons of your world… wait, are-are you… oh, no, you’re not saying that the other dragons were…?”

Red was silent as he looked over his shoulder, a memory having formed. His younger self was moving along a darkened corridor, following the path of light coming from a cracked door. Peeking inside, the memory sifted to Titan and Astor sitting at a table, a meeting of the Elders having clearly ended. “You’re not leaving Astor?” Titan inquired.

“Actually, there is something I want to discuss with you, Titan,” Astor answered.

“Do tell my friend,” Titan smiled.

“Well, it’s about one of the whelps you’re overseeing,” Astor began, his claws drumming on the table awkwardly.

“Which one?” Titan asked pleasantly.

“You know who,” Astor said, his tone turning serious.

“I’m afraid I don’t,” Titan answered firmly.

Astor rubbed at his temple, his drumming increasing in speed. “Fine, it’s about Red. The other Elders and I have been convening, and, sufficed to say, we’re a little perplexed by him,” Astor admitted.

“How so?” Titan questioned, his tone turning serious.

“Well, we don’t exactly know… where he fits, to be perfectly frank. He doesn’t possess the average look of an Artisan, he’s not lithe enough to be a Peace Keeper, he doesn’t have the pure eyes of a Magic Crafter, he’s clearly not bulky enough to be a Beast Keeper, nor does he have the refinement and nobility of a Dream Weaver. He doesn’t fit into any of the five races at all, plus, there’s the issue with his horns. It’s not normal for a whelp to have purple horns,” Astor explained.

“Yes, I have noticed these, “abnormalities” surrounding him, but I don’t see why they matter,” Titan retorted.

“They don’t, it’s just, unsettling to us. While it is obvious that he’s a son of Tyndarion, it’s just…, no dragon we’ve seen possesses the attributes Red has. We’ve spoken with the Brood Mothers, and they have never seen hide nor hair of a dragon with a similar appearance; especially one with his, err, underbite. He is an anathema to us,” Astor finished.

Titan exhaled deeply as he placed his hands on the table, a worried look on his face. “What are you planning to do?” he demanded.

“Nothing, we don’t have any ill will towards the child. We just wanted to bring our concerns to your attention, as he is your ward,” Astor replied defensively.

“They have been heard, and considered Astor. While I have noticed the, erm, “oddities” surrounding Red, it doesn’t make him any different than the other whelps,” Titan explained, and that was all he explained as the memory ended.

“But it did, he knew I was listening. He knew I was different, and though it took a while, he saw what different truly meant to a dragon. Many’s a time I had to remind myself that different doesn’t mean special,” Red bitterly sneered.

Alexander sighed heavily. “Well, of course it doesn’t, in a way. Just being “different” doesn’t make you special, Red; it’s what you do and what you’re capable of that sets you apart from others. You decided that you wanted to become an Elder, and you worked your tail off to reach that goal, we saw that. You wanted to do right by your world, and even though it didn’t go as planned in the long run, you still achieved that dream of becoming an Elder--”

“--which took roughly a few decades more than it should have, but I get your point. It’s why I’m here, after all. Setting myself apart from everyone else and proving I’m worth something. And that of course has blown up magnificently,” Red sighed again. “... but, there is something that has been bothering me, about you.”

“Beg your pardon?”

“Well, you are a lombax like Alister, right? If so, why do you have wings?” Red inquired.

“Wha-”wings”? What are you talking about?!” Alexander gasped as he frantically reached around his back, finding nothing there. “I don’t have any wings, Red. Where exactly do you see wings?” he asked as he turned around to show his back to Red.

“Where else, along your back,” Red answered brusquely, seeing Alexander’s wings as clear as day. “You also have scales along the bridge of your ears, rather like dragon scales, oddly enough.”

“What?!” Alexander grasped at his ears, feeling his soft fur underneath his fingers, and certainly not scales as Red had insisted. “Red, are you sure you’re not just seeing things? I don’t have wings, nor scales anywhere--oh, wait a second. I see what’s going on here.”

“Do tell.”

“It’s either because of my connection to the Crimson Dragon,” Alexander spoke as he held up his right forearm, showing Red his Signer Mark, “or--and I think this is the more likely explanation--it’s because earlier I ended up absorbing a portion of your mana. That’s why you see me with wings and scales; you’re actually seeing that part of your mana through me.”

“That would be it, considering those happen to be my wings,” Red nodded thoughtfully. “This is... new. It won’t exactly be leaving your body now, as dragons tend to funnel magic through themselves as conduits. You’re the same now, it would seem.”

“Well, how ‘bout that?” Alexander mused with a half-smile. “It definitely makes sense, especially when I had cast “Indignation” earlier; normally it takes a lot of effort for me to even build up the energy needed to cast it, and casting it leaves me feeling drained. That… didn’t happen this time.”

“How bout that,” Red said distantly, staring off into space. “Where did those two take Alister anyways?”

Alister, Zayon, and the other Red were seated comfortably in an upper-class dining room coated completely in dust, and filled with spider webs. The two memories were staring intently down the table at Alister. “So, you’ve had a fun ride huh?” Other!Red remarked to spark conversation. “Did you enjoy your little odyssey?”

“Define “enjoy”,” Alister quipped, his head resting on his open palm. “Because ever since I came here, it’s been nothing but painful the entire way along.”

“Well, that’s love for ya,” Zayon shrugged.

“Don’t you mean me “loving” you?” Other!Red added with a coy wink.

“Okay, seriously, could you, like, dial back the gas?” Alister snapped a plea at Other!Red. “‘Cuz you’re really flaming something fierce here. Besides, don’t you have, like, a nickname we can refer to you as? It’s getting rather tedious for the writers to refer to you as “Other!Red”.”

“Well, Zayon liked referring to me as the “Red Rocket”, for two reasons. But for the sanity of the others, just call me "Reid",” Reid shrugged.

“Fair enough,” Alister sighed, glad to have a non-sexual alternative.

“Excellent, now, I’m sure you’ve realized there is a reason we’ve brought you here, aside from assaulting you with innuendos and double entendres,” Zayon announced.

“Mmm, we’ve brought you here to discuss your “relationship” with the mainline me,” Reid nodded.

“We’re just friends,” Alister quickly said defensively. “I mean… I think we are,” he added as he held his head up with both hands now, his ears drooping. “Truth be told, I haven’t really been much of a good friend to him, haven’t I--OW!” he yelped as a stale/fossilized dinner roll bounced off his head.

“Okay, if we’re going to have this conversation, Al, we’re gonna need you to QUIT THE SELF-BLAME SHIT,” Zayon said snippily, priming another bone just in case.

“Please do, you both have been terrible to each other, so there’s no point accepting the blame when it’s on you both,” Reid nodded. “You have been pushing and pulling on each other in a tug-of-war you both are never going to win. Which is why we’re here to, more or less, give you the "cheat codes" needed to win.”

“... just… call it “advice” you guys,” Alister uttered with a bizarre glance towards his Alternate Self and his husband, “this RP has way too many meta references as it is. Speaking of which, isn’t Red’s voice actor, like, every other dragon in that game he debuted in--OUCH!” he yelped as the bone in Zayon’s hands found its way upside his head.

“Next time it’s the silverware, Mr. Hypocritical-Non-Sequitur,” Zayon snarked as he grabbed hold of a few salad plates. “But, yes, giving you some advice and guidance is just what we’re gonna do here, to ensure you can have your own Golden Ending. Because man do you need a guidebook in order to even win this dating sim--”

“--if it’ll also get me to the Elite Four and the Champion, then it’d better be worth-- *SMASH!* --it,” Alister ended on a flat note after having one of the salad plates shatter against his face.

“Indeed, so, the first thing is, without any sort of guilt trip, how do you actually feel about Red, now that you got to see a small part of the real him?” Reid questioned.

“Well… I mean, I don’t approve of what he had done in regards to the Dark Gems, but at the same time, I don’t feel I have any right to demonize him for it. And besides, it’s not like I haven’t essentially done the same, so… it sorta balances out in a way that I don’t know what to ultimately make of it, aside from having more empathy towards him,” Alister answered.

“Well, at least you’re on the same page. Though, do you see him as a proud dragon, or as a frightened sheep?” Zayon questioned.

“That… that’s a good question. I mean, I guess “confused” could go hand-in-hand with “frightened”, but I wouldn’t call him sheepish for it,” Alister responded. “He just seems… really unsure of himself at this point. And some of us and our actions aren’t making that any better, just saying,” he added with a knowing glance towards the couple.

“Heh, you’re too damn cute,” Zayon snorted as he tossed yet another salad plate at Alister. The General was prepared to intercept it, but just as it was within reach, the plate somehow did a(n actual) barrel roll in midair, zipping out of Alister’s reach and smacking him on the side of the head.

“He’s not, actually. He’s just unsure now about what you’ve been doing to him,” Reid corrected him. “I’m sure you’ve noticed his need for self-sacrifice, if Ratchet’s report was any indication.”

“... y-yeah…,” Alister answered with his head hung low.

“So, given you and he survives the war, what would a self-sacrificing person do afterwards?” Reid continued.

“... wait,” Alister realized in horror. “Even if we were to return the Multiverse to how it once was… his world… it would still disappear, won’t it? And he intends to--!!”

“--die with it, given he has no other options,” Reid completed the sentence in a somber tone. “Stuck between duty and friendship, you’ve made a pretty big impasse in his life. One road he is too modest to take, and the other he feels resigned too. Given one of his roads is to die with his world, what do you suppose the other option is for him?”

“”Abandoning his world” is one interpretation,” Zayon spoke up, seeing that Alister had gone too silent to answer. “Well, that’s how Red would interpret it. But, what do you suppose you would call it, Alister?”

Cradling his head face-down in his hands, Alister let out a heavy, depressed sigh. “... I don’t get it. He has a chance to live his life… why does that mean leaving his world to die to do so? Why must he die trying to save his world…?” As Alister voiced his thoughts, the memory of what should have been the last moments of his own life played in his mind. As it did, he began to feel sick to his stomach; here he was, basically questioning why he himself had to die. Still, he swallowed back this terrible feeling as he continued speaking: “There just… there has to be some other way. Another path, another option. Red could save his world without having to die in the process, can’t he?” With these thoughts buzzing around in his head, Alister returned his face to his open palms.

“He can’t, sadly. The Door of Origin could help, but that’s something that shouldn’t be tampered with. Adrastos’ first and only defeat pretty much sealed the deal with my universe,” Reid answered bluntly. “It was his master plan, taking advantage of a prophecy. It was a Catch-Twenty-Two against the Dragon Realms, he couldn’t lose either way. But that’s irrelevant. Thing is, Red believes it his duty to die with his world, so he can be with his loved ones when they all perish. You need to stop that, which is why I said Red’s at an impasse. One option he is too modest to take, the other he feels resigned too. Think now Alister, what is that option he’s too modest to take? Cuz, if you figure that one out, you can save him.”

“It’s not a hard question Alister,” Zayon sighed at the General’s silent introspection, suddenly appearing sitting on the right armrest of Alister’s chair. The Altister gently scratched at Alister’s head, the General not objecting to it in the slightest for whatever reason. “Alright, here’s a hint: Red is now pretty interested in your world’s technology, thanks to Ratchet.”

“... wait, what?” Alister blurted out in a quiet, incredulous tone. “Ratchet told Red about our universe’s technology--”

“--No, he just witnessed it. He almost got axed by a R.Y.N.O., if you’ll recall,” Reid interjected. “But Ratchet did talk shop a little about it; Red found the compacting technology pretty fascinating, not to mention the teleportation pads.”

“... huh,” Alister hummed out loud. “Really? Well, I suppose if there’s ever a chance, I could--”

“Yeeeees~?” Zayon leaned in as he pretty much saw the gears finally working in Alister’s head, a knowing smile growing steadily by the second.

“Well, what if I… ask him to come back with me instead?” Alister suggested with uncertainty.

“Aaaaannnnddd he finally gets it,” Reid declared in relief. “That is the same idea Red has been nurturing for a little while now, but he’s far too modest to actually ask you Alister. If you haven’t noticed, he’s a complete uke, and isn’t one to try and put people out. He’s expecting you to ask him, since he doesn’t have the guts to ask himself. If you don’t, he won’t ask and will go home to die.”

“Thankfully I didn’t need to ask you,” Zayon remarked.

“Well, when we had that moment after Sayer and his serpent-thing were defeated in the Periphery, did you even need to?” Reid replied coyly.

“But, wait!” Alister gasped out, realizing something. “Wh-What about the rest of the people in Red’s world? Can’t we--?”

“--it would be noble to try and salvage that world, but, Alister, you must understand: About ninety-nine percent of the population had been frozen in time, completely locked. There were less than ten people even active, and they had all gone without sleep for four days, Red included. While he got away, you can be guaranteed that the others would have inevitably given into exhaustion before the world was cast into oblivion. Red is the only being from that universe still active. Well, aside from Adrastos, who’s haunting a different Shadow Realm by now,” Reid explained with a cold expression. “Fact is, they can’t be saved. Touch someone time locked, and you’ll be time locked too. That’s precisely how many active individuals ended up getting locked in the first place: embracing their friends and loved ones.”

“... … this sucks,” Alister whimpered sadly as he dropped his head onto the table. “I truly would be asking Red to abandon his friends… … I just… I don’t know if I could even… ….”

“I understand your frustration, Al,” Zayon said in a somber, yet comforting tone as he placed an arm around the General’s shoulders. “But it’s a foregone conclusion at this point. It’s your job to help ease his pain, and give him a new reason to live.”

“Indeed, he would listen to you, Alister,” Reid nodded thoughtfully, moving away from his chair as he walked with apparent aimlessness around the room.

“He’ll be able to have a life again, Alister, just like you,” Zayon continued. “You two can support each other because you have both been offered a second chance. Red has a chance to survive the destruction of his world, and you were literally reborn thanks to Isamy. And it’s not as if you don’t have experience with survivor’s guilt, so you can help Red with his.”

“I hope so…,” Alister uttered in an uncertain tone.

“I know so, Al,” Zayon replied as he wrapped Alister in a comforting hug. “If anyone can best help Red through this, it’s you. Of course~ it wouldn’t hurt if Reid and I maybe helped him along as well, given we’ve already been through this ourselves,” he added with a wink.

“Boy was that a hellish few months. I wouldn’t even come out of my room until the last few weeks,” Reid laughed, shaking his head in amusement. “I swear Zayon, at one point I thought you were going to bash your head into the door just to get me out.”

“I was this close to doing so, too. It was either going to be my head or a frikkin’ bulldozer,” Zayon chuckled darkly as that memory ran through his head.

“Yeah, I was pretty “emotional”, wasn’t I?” Reid chuckled to himself, fondly regarding that memory. “But things were better afterwards though. Your universe had so much to see and explore, I thought I was going to overdose on excitement.”

“I had emergency response on speed-dial in case that did happen. Luckily there was no need,” Zayon grinned. “But yeah, you really loved exploring my universe… and that made me happy.”

“And being alive with you is what made me happy,” Reid grinned back. The two stared into each other’s eyes lovingly, sharing their silent moment much to Alister’s chagrin.

“Er-HEM! Sorry, do you two need a room?” Alister asked sarcastically.

“Hmm? Oh, you’re still here, aren’t you?” Reid remarked, standing by a large portrait completely blacked out by dust. “You know Alister, you’re kinda lucky, really. Or should I say “skillful”?”

“Beg your pardon?” the General blurted with a cocked eyebrow.

“Which part of Red do you suppose we’re in right now?” Reid questioned knowingly.

“Well, we’re obviously in a dining hall, possibly within the--!!!!” Alister cut himself off with a shrill gasp. “We--We’re--You mean that--?!!”

“--that’s right, Al~!” Zayon chimed happily. “We’re once again inside the castle, rebuilt once more thanks to our intervention.”

“And also, this part here is a part of Red’s greater being. If you know the answer, you’ll know who’s on this portrait behind me,” Reid added.

Alister glanced around as he thought out loud: "... well, dining halls are typically where one would invite guests for dinner, or even friends and family. So, that being the case… that would make it his….” Alister trailed off as Reid’s eyes lit up.

The dragon laughed as he wiped away a large swath of dust from the portrait, revealing greyish-white fur and rusty-red stripes. With another wipe, it became abundantly clear who it was. “It’s not easy winning a place in his heart, but you managed it Alister,” Reid said warmly with heavy amounts of praise. “Especially since your Red is A LOT more delicate than I was. These past thirty minutes have been hell on him. Though don’t think you’re to blame for that, despite what Adrastos said. He was just trying to get to you.”

Alister gazed in awe at his portrait, noting the refined, almost regal posture in which his painted form sat in its chair, both hands resting on one end of his OmniWrench as he stared on ahead with the faintest traces of a smile on his lips. “I… I don’t know what to say…,” Alister stammered, feeling quite touched and surprised that he had managed to get through to Red.

“You don’t really need to say anything, aside from marveling that you’re one of three, Alister,” Reid explained, nodding to the two other dusty frames. “Won’t take two guesses to figure who they are.”

Alister nodded. “The two who reached him before me: Titan and Spyro.”

“Yeah, even with the pain, he wouldn’t let Titan go, despite the Elder taking a, err, “dim view” to Red’s antics for the past few decades. But given time, he would have forgiven us. Either way, you’re in a special position, since he will listen to what you have to say. So, it’s really up to you as to whether or not you want to save him now. If you don’t bring him back with you, he won’t try to suggest it. As I said, total uke. He really does need to work on that, but, baby steps here Alister,” Reid grinned.

“... well… what else have we to lose?” Alister sighed with a nod.

“Well, everything unless you guys manage to reach the end, of course,” Zayon reminded Alister. “After all, you guys aren’t out of the woods yet, and that is to say, the Pathways. And if either--or both--of you die before you can reach the end of this story, then all of your plans will become moot. But hey, no pressure!” he added with a hearty, and unnecessarily heavy-handed, pat on Alister’s back. “Just keep chugging away and you’ll do fine, Al.”

“Yeah, after all, you now have another ally to watch your back,” Reid nodded. “So it’ll take a lot of effort to take you two down.”

“You’re right,” Alister nodded back determinedly, “I won’t be doing this alone; I have not only Red by my side, but Ratchet and Alexander, too. Ah, yes, and Bayonetta, also. With them and the other Counter Corps, we’ll be able to take back our worlds from oblivion, and be able to live our lives once more.”

“Okay now, enough with the motivational speeches. With the game afoot, we should be getting back. I doubt Alex could keep a semi-suicidal me entertained forever,” Reid said as they all vanished from the room.

“... and to this day, I can never again look at cream cheese the same way,” Red said, concluding a story that he felt oddly compelled to recount to Alexander.

“Oh, wow,” Alexander uttered with a paralyzed look of shock on his face (as he held back the urge to burst out laughing). “I-I can’t believe that happened like that.”

“I can’t believe I even went through with telling you that story,” Red replied with a short, embarrassed chuckle. “I also can’t believe how quickly I had managed to recall that memory.”

“You’re welcome,” Reid grinned as they returned back to the Treetops.

“And where were you?” Red snorted.

“Just having a little chat with Alister in a private, barely touched locale. No biggie; however, Alister, don’t you have something to say?” Reid remarked, giving Alister a friendly shove.

“Well, jeez, put me on the spot, why dontcha?” Alister grumbled under his breath before turning his attention to Red. An unsteady feeling formed in his chest as he contemplated how he was going to present his question. “Erm… Red…?”

“Alister?” Red said back, curious as to what the General had to say.

The pressure was on him now. Now how was he going to figure out the best way to ask Red…? With a sharp inhale, Alister began: “Well, Red, I’m not exact sure how best to go about this, but please, just bear with me, alright?

“Listen, Red, I… I know you want to do all you can for your world, even if it means you would die trying. I understand that feeling, so much… … and yet… uh, this is really hard,” Alister stammered as his speech petered off.

“Alister, what’re you trying to say?” Alexander spoke up, curious and concerned.

The General bit his lip as he looked inside himself for a little extra courage. “... Red, there won’t be much you can do for your world, even if we succeed in this War. Your world will end up vanishing regardless of what you may try to do for it. In the end… in the end, only you will remain of your universe…,” Alister quavered as he shed a remorseful tear. “... so… that’s why I… I wanted to ask this of you, Red… no, I beg of you: When this is all over, and if we both survive, please… please Red, come back with me, to my world. You don’t have to die, or be alone. You can have a chance at a new life with… with us. Me, Ratchet, Alexander, Clank; we’ll support you through the pain of losing your home. I know you have trouble accepting people’s help, but, this time, please… don’t lock us out this time,” he said as he held a hand out to Red.

Red shuddered, taking a few steps away from Alister, and one claw away from the edge. It wasn’t a horrified shudder, but rather the involuntary noise created when you choke up from sheer emotion. His eyes continuously bounced from Alister’s outstretched hand, to his face, back to his hand as nauseum as he clamped his claw over his mouth. He was shaking like it was absolute zero, the reality of the situation appearing quite unreal to him. His jaw was hanging wide open as he finally managed to remove his claw, his heart beating every millisecond as he stared at Alister’s outstretched hand. “Alister… … I… I don’t…,” he stammered, unable to express his words as his face turned an even brighter shade of red. His throat was tightening from trying to repress his sobs, as his yellow eyes were trying to hold back the wave of tears he was desperate to release.

A gentle hand placed on his side brought Red’s attention to Alexander, the emerald-eyed lombax staring up into the dragon’s yellow eyes in a calm, comforting way. “It’s okay, Red,” Alex spoke simply with a reassuring nod.

“I… snrk,” Red gagged, holding a hand to his mouth as tears rolled down his face. “I… Alister, I didn’t expect you to.... I mean… I thought about it, but… I didn’t think… I… just…,” he quavered. “This is all… … I mean, this is….”

“Ahem. Alister, I am relieved beyond belief to hear you even ask that. I’ve thought about it, many times, ever since I met up and learned so much from Ratchet. Your world sounds truly fascinating to me, and it piques my own scientific curiosity as an admirer of progress, and as an inventor. But, I am afraid about what it means, in terms of leaving my home to go live off in a completely alien universe. It just seems, scary, to me,” Reid declared, staring straight at Red. “Well, anything you’d like to add yourself, or would you rather I continue speaking for you, hon?”

“Please don’t read my mind to speak for me,” Red sighed, now a lot more composed after such rudeness. Shaking his head, he looked back at Alister. “I’ll admit, I have been thinking about making the offer, but, I didn’t want to, put you out. But, I… I care about you, an awful lot. I just feel like I’m getting ratcheted into your own life, Alister,” he admitted modestly.

“... well, it wouldn’t be the first time someone suddenly entered my life that I would eventually come to care for deeply,” Alister admitted with a sheepish smirk.

“I… I’m not, sure,” Red sighed, much to his doppelganger's chagrin.

“Really Red? A golden opportunity presents itself, and you’re still unsure about yourself?” Reid scoffed.

“My apologies, frankly I don’t have an idea of how well Alister operates in the bedroom to judge his character with,” Red snorted back. (“WHOA-WHOA-WHOA-WHOA-WHOA!! Where the hell did THAT come from?!” "AAAAAHHH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!" "ALEX, SHUT THE FUCK UP!") “Maybe if I did, this might be easier for me.”

“That wasn’t even it, Red. It’s because I had the time to open up to him, as you’re still failing to do now. You’re still blocking people out, and if you want any kind of friendship to work, you have to trust him more,” Reid implored.

“I…. Damn you, you’re right,” Red conceded, though not willingly.

“It’s because I’ve gone through everything you have Red. If you want to avoid the pain and hardships involved with such a choice, then go ahead and return to your own world to die with it, and waste everyone’s efforts here. Come a day or two you won’t be around to regret it,” Reid declared as he drifted over to place his claws on Red’s shoulders. “Trust me, you turn him down, you’ll regret it for your precious few seconds before the end. I almost made the same mistake, but my heart told me the better choice. Now it’s time you let it do so for you as well,” Reid whispered, tilting his neck so Red could still look at Alister. “He needs you almost as much as you need him. Don’t let his or your efforts go to waste like it did for many other Reds and Alisters. This is your chance for the true happy ending, and so the memory of our world can carry on through the Red that succeeded.”

Red’s eyes were empty as he stared at Alister. What did he have to lose? Really, if the others had the chance to flee, they would take it. Was it selfish to do what they would do? Staring back into Reid’s eyes, the two shared more than a look, a silent conversation going on between the two as the only emotion they portrayed was through their expressions. With one final appearing look from Reid, Red returned to looking at Alister. “I’ll go with you, Alister. If I stay and die, there will be no one left to remember my world once it’s gone. And they don’t deserve to be forgotten,” he declared. “Neither does the bond we share deserve to be erased because of my selfishness. Abandoning my world, seemed like the selfish choice. But, now I kinda see that… that… that by abandoning you, and disregarding my only friend I truly have, that’s the truly selfish thing here. I’ve been so wrapped up in myself and my own moral dilemma, that I’ve been disregarding how you feel, Alister.”

"It's okay, Red," Alister replied gently. "We've both made mistakes in regards to each other, but that doesn't mean we can't make it up to each other, and ourselves.”

“But before you do that, I think our friend here needs to be made whole first,” Zayon interjected.

"How else are you gonna do that?" Alexander asked as he glanced over towards Reid, somehow feeling that the answer involved the constructed Red.

“Well, let’s play a game, as we all like to do. Every Altister has a power associated with how they died. Zayon is quite funny, since he didn’t die until old age a long time after he was recorded. What do you suppose he could do?” Reid quizzed Alex and the others.

Alex, Alister and Red all glanced at each other. “It sounds like he wouldn’t honestly have any power, if he died naturally,” Red suggested.

“Except Zayon is also unique for having been forcibly recorded into the Watch,” Alister pointed out, remembering what Moony had claimed to have done for the sake of escaping the Watch. “And to be frank, I’m pretty sure that each Altister doesn’t truly develop their power right away. Rather, they take their experiences up to being recorded, maybe even a bit of time afterwards, and establish what their power could be.”

“If that’s the case,” Alexander joined in, “then maybe Zayon’s powers were either restored or developed recently, once he recovered the memories that Moony had altered… wait a second, I think I got it: Zayon’s power… it involves memory! In what way, though…?” Alexander pondered.

“Perhaps maybe something involving what he was doing when he was recorded,” Reid suggested.

“And that would be…?” Alister asked as he glanced over towards Zayon.

“Well, I was looking over some photos,” Zayon replied, a half-smile on his face as he rubbed his upper arms. “I was, erm, feeling a bit nostalgic, you could say. It was some time after… ….” Zayon went oddly quiet, an uncomfortable expression tinged with a hint of sadness crossing his face for a moment.

“After our son went AWOL,” Reid finished for him.

Alister’s eyes went wide upon hearing this. “Wha--Rex went missing?! What happened--?”

“--I don’t wanna talk about it right now,” Zayon snipped, his discomfort growing more evident. “Not… not here….”

“Long story short, what happened with Rex hit him pretty hard,” Reid explained. “That’s not to say it didn’t affect me either. But I took it a bit better than he did.”

“... okay. Zayon, you and I can talk about Rex later,” Alister said to the Altister. “In any case, though, your power must stem partly from reminiscence.”

“Were you looking through a scrapbook or a photo album, by any chance?” Alexander cut in.

“... as a matter of fact, I was,” Zayon replied, his expression becoming calmer as the question took his mind off of his worries. “Before I dozed off, I remember putting a few other spare photographs into the album while I was looking through it… storing those memories inside… … ahh, now that makes sense,” he realized as he took out his own pocket watch.

“Hello darkness, my old friend,” Reid commented as he looked at the watch.

“It seems, Al,” Zayon continued, a faint smile forming on his lips again as he explained, “that just like your watch, as well as the watches of the Azimuths of previous timelines, my watch can also record… except, instead of making a copy of someone, it can copy or store a person’s memory within itself. I just never understood how or why it could do that, but it proved to be very helpful during these past few minutes.”

“Indeed, I owe my life to that fancy watch, as should you, Red” Reid remarked.

“How do you mean?” Red questioned.

“Well, that’s pretty simple Red. All you and I are, is in that watch,” Reid answered.

“While the other Altisters engaged the Shadow Beasts in combat, and the two of you went off to slay the dragon and rescue your, er-hem, “princess”,” Zayon continued, “I took the opportunity to slip into the Memory Vaults. I figured that, with Adrastos distracted by the two of you, I could try and get the doors unsealed. Thing is, there was only one door I could even attempt to enter at the time: the one Alexander went and punched during his furious ranting. That was the only door at the time whose Seal was weakened do to that little action (most likely due to the power of Blazing Soul that he possesses). When the Seal to that door weakened enough, I managed to slip through it and dive into the memory within. In it, it was the first (and possibly only) time Red ever saw Titan in action, and it was a sight for sore eyes I can tell you that. I filled him in on what was happening after I let him out, and he went straight for the castle to help you guys. Near what I assumed was the end of the fight, I recorded all the bad memories, and then waited for the Seals to break so I could preserve the good. Using them I created a little bubble to protect myself from Red’s inevitable collapse, and then I poured a little of my memories into it--”

“And lo and behold, the watch gave birth to me; recreated from Zayon’s memories of his time with me, and your memories, Red,” Reid finished.

“... … so, you’re basically his husband and his son?” Alexander blurted out before he could stop himself. “... dammit, I’ve been around Umbris too long. Heh, Forget I said that, please~ ^__^;”

“Already purged,” Reid declared, though he didn’t seem to mind. “Either way, with our mission done, you guys should be returning back to reality soon. Can’t imagine how many minutes now you’ve been frozen in place.”

“He’s got a point, Al,” Alexander slightly gasped. “We need to get back to the physical place to pull that “spear” out of Red’s chest!” (“There’s a spear in my chest?!” Red gasped.)

“Indeed, but, we gotta put things back the way they were. Gotta pay the piper, as they say,” Reid explained as he stared into Red’s eyes. “Though, just between you and I, Red, I’ll be giving you a little parting gift of my own, just to help lift your spirits a bit,” he added with a whisper as, with a warm, red glow, he seemed to step through Red.

There was a blinding flash, and Reid was gone, leaving Red behind with his eyes twitching.

“You okay, Red?” a concerned Alister asked the dragon.

Red was silent as his eyes focused, a memory playing out for him, and only him. He chuckled to himself as he grinned at Zayon, craning his neck down to look the Altister at eye-level. “Reid was so caught up, he forgot to say goodbye Zayon. He says he’ll never forget you, and, neither will I, really. He loves you more than anything else in the world, and you’ll always be in his heart wherever he may be,” the dragon repeated warmly.

“And he'll always be in mine, wherever the real me may be,” Zayon returned, his hands caressing the sides of Red’s face as he stared into the dragon’s eyes, seeing his love within them. “... … oh! Uh, sorry,” he gasped, looking flustered as he hastily released Red’s face, “almost got a bit carried away there. I mean, you’re still, uhm… well, that’s to say--”

Red laughed loudly at Zayon’s flustered state. “It’s alright, “Adonis”,” he replied with a knowing wink as he gave Zayon a quick caress in return. “Let’s call it a... “thank you”, for preserving my memories.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that,” Alister uttered, “Is he gonna be like this when he wakes up?”

“Well, he won’t be a Magnus Two-Point-Oh,” Zayon replied, a radiant blush visible on his cheeks, “but at the very least he won’t be so angsty. You’ll be able to see the effects back in reality.”

“And don’t give me that look Alister, you really do need to lighten up,” Red sighed, rubbing at his temples in dismay. “I hardly see how we’re going to make this work when you’re being a bit of a prude,” he added in a playful tone.

“Yeah, Al,” Kaden agreed as he suddenly appeared next to Alister.

“Oh, not you too, Kay…! Alright, fine, just so long as we don’t bring up the topic of our sexualities or our experiences from here on out.”

“I can assure you, Alister, that we cannot give our guarantee on that,” Zayon replied, much to Alister’s chagrin.

“I suppose at this point I could go either way,” Red shrugged.

The General gave an exasperated groan as he rolled his eyes. “I give up,” he grunted with a facepalm.

“Huh,” Red chuckled, “it really is fun when you’re on the other side isn’t it?”

“Fun for whom?” Alister snipped. “And aren’t you gonna say anything?” he asked of Alexander.

“Nope. This all speaks for me,” Alexander snickered as he gestured to the scene before him.

“Ha ha, well, I think it’s about time we got back to reality, everybody out now, I have a few new memories I need to explore anyways,” Red commanded, bouncing everyone out of his mind, save for the fading Zayon. “Till next time, my friend,” he declared as his final farewell.

“If there even is a next time for me,” Zayon replied as he faded away.

Back on the outside, Alister, Alex, and Red had all been frozen for a few, rather conspicuous minutes now. And then without warning they were all thrown back from each other by some unseen force. Red’s staff spun in the air as they were all knocked onto their asses, looking very dazed. The Dark Spines that had been maintaining the barrier shattered, and the living vines screeched in pain as they withered away, allowing the others the ability to finally bypass the barrier.

“Alex!” Umbris yelped as he, Ratchet and the Umbra Witches ran over to the three.

“You guys did it!” Ratchet exclaimed happily, overjoyed to see Alex, Alister and Red were alive and well. “At least, I hope you guys did. Are you all alive?” he added, trying to discern if the three of them were moving.

“Quick, grab a stick and poke them with it,” Bayonetta joked, earning her a hard punch to the shoulder from Jeanne. “Ugh, I was kidding. Boys, if you’re still with us, please let us know.”

Alexander was the first to respond, groaning as he carefully got himself into a seated position. “Uhh… present,” he uttered with a raised hand.

“I’m not dead,” Alister groaned, rubbing his head to soothe his earthquake of a headache.

“Uuuuuuuggghhhh. Someone… please tell me if I have a hole in my chest,” Red groaned.

“Bitch, check it yourself,” Umbris blurted out. “But no, you’ve got no hole in your chest.”

“That’s good, at least. That’s one problem solved,” Red grunted as he heaved himself up, the shards of his Dark Gem armour scattered around him, completely lifeless. “It’s my fault for allowing this mess to pile up on itself,” he grimaced, inspecting a broken shard in his claw. “At least they’re all inert and lifeless.”

“And you’re neither of those,” Alister spoke up, taking the inert Dark Gem shard from Red’s hand and tossing it away.

“Heh, yeah, I’m not,” Red smiled wryly as he dusted himself off. He took a deep breath as he addressed everyone. “I want to thank you all for trying to help me while I… wasn’t myself. I’m sorry for putting you all through so much trouble during my little episode, and hope I haven’t derailed too many things. Thanks to a good friend, I see now that trying to manipulate reality with the Door of Origin won’t really fix my problem. And we can’t allow Protheus to access the Door’s power either. So I’m officially siding with you, and the rest of the Counter Corps. The madness that is Protheus Maximus needs to be stopped for the sake of all our worlds.”

“... well then, more the merrier I suppose,” Bayonetta chimed in with a smile. “Although, before we can officially let you in on our little club, we’ll be needed some proper introductions.” With the flair of a runway model, the Umbra Witch sauntered over toward Red. “My name is Cereza, though most people call me “Bayonetta”. This is my Bee-Eff-Eff Jeanne, and these,” she said as both Umbra Witches called out their Infernal Demonesses, “are Madama Butterfly and Madama Styx. A pleasure to finally see the real you, Red.”

“My name’s Gabriel,” spoke the lion plushie cradled in Bayonetta’s arms. “I wasn’t always a doll, but it’s a long story. Also, I’m really sorry for scaring the crap out of you earlier with that “Possessed Doll” routine (even if I did have a lot of fun doing it).”

“I should apologize too, Red,” Umbris joined in as he awkwardly scratched the back of his head. “Y’know, for slugging you in the stomach back in Remembrance. Now that we all know your true nature, I’m hoping we can start over on a new page. Name’s Umbris, by the way. I’m a friend of Alexander’s.”

“It’s nice to meet you all, and, I do mean all,” Red intoned, gazing at the two demonesses. “By the way, uh, Umbris, that really did hurt, just so you know,” he added rubbing the bruise in his scales.

“Yeah, I figured,” Umbris replied with a humble grumble.

“So, then, if you’re no longer seeking the Door’s power,” Gabriel asked, “what’re you gonna do once this is all over?”

“He’s coming with us,” Alister announced.

“Wha--r-really?!” Ratchet stammered, pleasantly taken aback by this news. “Red’s… coming to live with us?!”

“Well, not with us (at least, I don’t think so),” Alister replied, “but he will be living among us in our dimension. There’s… a lot of details that we’d have to work out, but I’m certain we can make things work in the end.”

“I’ll probably stay on Fastoon,” Red shrugged.

“... wait, how do you already know--oh, right, Reid must’ve told you,” Alister realized.

“I’m guessing that’s where Zayon and Reid eventually went to live once their honeymoon was over,” Alexander remarked.

“Yeah… … not sure how I feel about that,” Alister uttered.

“How so?” Ratchet asked.

“I-I just… … I haven’t been to Fastoon ever since my banish… … I haven’t been there in a long time,” Alister sighed with his head held low.

“Zayon and Reid didn’t live there, but it’ll be a nice quiet world for me to work. Naturally I won’t be coming with you empty-handed,” Red explained. “If your Counter Guardian will allow it, I want to retrieve some personal effects from my world.”

“I can’t see why Arthuria wouldn’t,” Bayonetta shrugged.

“Wait, “Arthuria”? I thought Emiya was our Counter Guardian?” Jeanne blurted out.

“Not since his death at the end of Arc Two,” Clank pointed out.

“Well, shite, who else ended up dying while I was out?” Jeanne questioned.

“... so,” Ratchet spoke up as Umbris and Clank went through a list of character deaths that had occurred up to that point, “does this mean I’ll be calling you “Uncle Red” from now on?” the young lombax joked.

Red chuckled loudly at that idea. “In spirit. I don’t think Alister is quite ready to make it official yet,” he joked back, sparing one smug look at Alister. “But, I like that. “Uncle Red”. I’m going to need to think of a nickname for you though.”

Alister rolled his eyes at Red’s joke, but nonetheless had a small smile on his face. “Well, so far, we’ve come up with “Ratch” and “Kiddo”, but I guess another nickname for him wouldn’t hurt.”

“Y’mean aside from the ones my enemies give me?” Ratchet quipped cockily.

“I’ll think of one, though I feel quite partial to “kiddo” for now,” Red nodded, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “Whadya think, kiddo?”

“I’ve no objections,” Ratchet replied with a smile, “just so long as you don’t come up with anything embarrassing.”

“Give me time,” Red snickered. “I’ll create something incredibly embarrassing with enough time.”

“... me and my big mouth,” Ratchet sighed.

“I could do worse,” Red grinned.

“Try it, old man,” Ratchet taunted, not knowing that would seal his fate.

“You got it,” Red laughed, lunging at Ratchet like a Red locomotive. He tackled the small Lombax to the ground, the larger dragon lying on his back with Ratchet tightly pinned to his chest by Red’s arm. “Noogie~!” Red declared, giving Ratchet a vicious noogie.

Ratchet was practically shrieking with laughter (and a slight bit of pain) as he felt the dragon’s scaly knuckles grinding against the top of his fuzzy head. “HAHAHAHA-Re-RED! AHAHAHA!! Stop-STOP!!-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!”

“Say uncle!” Red demanded.

“AAH-HAHA-O-OKAY, UNCLE--UNCLE!! HAHAHA!!!” Ratchet yelled as he conceded.

“It looks like Ratchet has called Red “Uncle” after all,” Clank chuckled.

“Now say “I love my godfather Alister”,” Red demanded, still driving his knuckles into Ratchet’s skull.

“HAHAHA-I LOVE HIM, I LOVE--HAHAHA!!” Ratchet gasped, growing out-of-breath from all of his laughing. “I-HA!-I love my godfather Alister!--AHH-HAHAHA!”

“We know you do, kiddo,” Alexander smiled brightly, as did Alister.

“Now say you love me,” Red declared, making his last demand.

“WAH-HAHAHA--WH-Why don’t I--HAHAHA-Why don’t I just show ya?!” Ratchet gasped out as he wiggled a bit in Red’s clutch, turning himself around so that he was facing towards the larger dragon. The young lombax pressed himself against Red’s chest as he tried his best to give the dragon a hug. Red gave pause as Ratchet pressed himself into his chest, but his surprise softened into sentimentality as he wrapped his arms around Ratchet, his head lying on the ground as he looked up at the empty sky.

“I love you too,” Red whispered with barely guarded emotion.

Alexander, overwhelmed with emotion, got caught up in the moment as he approached Red to give him a hug (around his arm) as well. Seeing this, Umbris and Clank also joined in. Eventually, the entirety of Team Lombax were all joined together in one big group hug around Red (even the Infernal Demonesses were compelled to partake in the session). It was then that Ratchet suddenly remembered Red’s semi-cryptic statement back on Death Path: “It must be remarkable how some damages can be undone with a group hug, wouldn’t you say… Ratchet?”

“You are loved, Red,” Alister told the dragon in a quavering voice, he himself embracing Red’s neck, “and don’t you ever forget that… okay? I love you, my friend….”

[Phantom Roxas]

[Death B6] - Arthur, Eria, MirageGaogamon, & Gagagigo

 

Dorian sounded as though he was at his wit’s end, though Arthur didn’t really seem to care. It was both admirable and disgusting to see how defensive Dorian was of Butler. Maybe there was some truth to what he said about how little Arthur and Eria had known each other, but the two of them did face adversity together, and against Dorian no less. And yet, to mock them for having to stand up against him, like they were worthless, only to take pride in his relationship with Butler was so utterly hypocritical. All it sounded like to Arthur was that Dorian didn’t care about anyone’s life save for his own and Butler’s.

 

Arthur wanted to kill him. He resented Arturia for hiding the truth of everyone’s home, but he still believed that siding with the Counter Corps was still the right thing to do. Joining the Divine would be one of the worst mistakes he made in his life, and yet, Dorian still chose to stay, even while sounding ready to oppose Protheus. Arthur wanted to call Dorian out on all his hypocrisies, but the young girl, Tenco, was right. They had to get along.

 

”I’ve already been on the dark side,” he said to Gyokuen. ”So if there’s any change of sides I’m going to fall for, it’s sticking with the Counter Corps. I’m staying with my friends for as long as I can, even if the Pathways won’t let me. I want to go home, just like Tenco. I’m sure even the two of you want that as well, in your own way.” Arthur bit his lip, hesitant to even speak to Dorian with any kind of filter in his voice. ”So… please. Dorian, Gyokuen. Let’s stop Protheus.”

 

As he looked around the bridge, he began to realize that he was back where he was when that spectre of Isamy had appeared. Even after escaping here, they were right back where they started. Although, it was where he was separated from Sora and Kairi. If he followed either of the roads, maybe he could at least meet up with one of them. He took his Keyblade and pointed it towards the left and the right. With a smug smile towards Dorian, he said, ”You can decide which way we’ll go.”

 

 

Ending Location: Choosing between A6 and C6

[Love of Ghibli]

Dorian and Gyokuen: Path of Death.
 

Both Dorian and Gyokuen turned around to hear Ms. Tenco's counter rant. After letting it sink in for a couple of seconds both of them started to chuckle and snicker. Well that just took the wind out of my sails there. She does have a way with words. Reminds me of my daughter a little bit. Aww, now I think I miss my kids. Dorian looked back at Arthur and the gang and simply scoffed. He turned away from them and simply proceeded to walk off. I guess we can walk down the same path and "get along." Dorian looked at Arthur as he gave his thoughts on the subject. Typical rhetoric of the indecisive and weak. Gyokuen made a sarcastic pout and proceeded to follow Dorian. As she got passed Tenco she looked at the warrior and whispered. What's wrong with having a little fun every now and again.

 

Dorian was busy stroking his chin as he wanted to figure out how he was going to get this mission done. Nevertheless, it would have to wait. Maybe another option would present himself. Dorian ventured rightward since Arthur was so gracious to let him choose. Of course the weak should yield to the strong as it is only natural. Dorian and Gyokuen laughed as they couldn't believe how they were asking. Dorian and Gyokuen looked at each other as they wondered about this whole Attack on Protheus campaign. Its not like they had an immense desire to kill the man but it seems like in order for this to go anywhere they have to drum up some conviction.

Both of them let out a slight sigh. This was definitely not going according to plan. As they made the turn and proceeded to walk down the halls they started to notice little ripples in the air and they watched as what seemed to be a countless number of weird little creatures. Hmm, okay this..is happening. 

 

Ending location: B6 - C6