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

[Tesability Black]

~??? - Prologuous - Gemini's POV~

"Goodbye everyone. This has been... tedious."

The porcelain cup in his hands were lowered to the table at these words, the demon recognizing the tone of voice.

"I was going to give you all honourable deaths, but you saw fit to sully my good graces instead by having a tea party. Oh well, maybe in the next life you might be granted you will be a bit wiser."

Letting go of the cup as it rested flat on the table, Gemini lowered his hands underneath the edge, allowing a large amount of dark-blue energy to build in them.

"Farewell. ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END!"

"EVERYONE, GET DOWN," Gemini suddenly bellowed before standing up immediately, roughly knocking back the chair that he had been sitting in a moment before raising his hands high above his head and releasing the dark-blue energy as he jumped up onto the table himself to stand upon it. Before the 'rain' as a whole could come down, the energy quickly formed into a sort of barrier around the entire table and the beings currently at it. So far, it was working to keep the madness of the 'rain' off of everyone else as well as himself.

Oh, suddenly he was thankful that, at least for now, his power had been aspected by Origin, so he could draw from the same power source as the Avatar currently was. But unlike the Avatar, he wasn't going to settle for being a permanent pawn of the Paths.

"You won't win so easily, Broken," Gemini muttered with a growl under his breath, one of his hands glowing brighter for a split second as he held up the barrier around everyone...

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

~The Divine - Prologuous - Tesability's POV~

The slap-around she had gotten from the Avatar had indeed surprised the young creature, even as she now laid against against the ground near the strange tea table on one of her wings. No, thankfully, the wing in question wasn't broken, but it certainly was stinging to the point that she wouldn't be able to fly with it just yet.

"Farewell. ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END!"

"EVERYONE, GET DOWN!"

The black dragonling lifted her head at the second outburst just in time to see a sphere of dark-blue energy emerge from between a pale-yellow man's hand before surrounding everyone at the strange table, including herself due to proximity. It felt slightly revitalizing to feel the energy flow through her briefly, allowing her wing to her a little less as she stood up onto her paws.

She almost missed the increased glow on the strange man's left hand before a pair of jewels appeared in front of her with a similar shape to one another, though only one of them was yellow and appeared to be made of solidified lightning. The other, however...

"Awe dowsh Masheesh an' Spawk Cweeshtawlsh...?" ("Are those Maxis and Spark Crystals...?") Grabbing them both with her paws while still under the blue energy, the pair of jewels began to glow with their individual colors of yellow and pink before beginning to surround the little dragon with the same light for a few moments.

No physical changes could be seen, but that's not what Knowledge Crystals do to a Champion NetMonster. No, instead, they often rearranged a Champion's Binary code within certain limits. Their Attribute and Species won't change, but their strengths and weaknesses, what abilities they could use, those often did change, a better word being 're-scrambled'...and sometimes the normal limits were broken.

She didn't feel any limits breaking this time, but she knew her overall power had indeed increased instead of the ever possible chance of winding up weaker than usual.

She felt her ability to keep taking hits improve as well. One of her moves had just became MegaHeal, which would aid her greatly, especially now. Wings stretched out and eyes closed, the dragonling bowed her head down after fulling standing up before beginning to glow with a white light that hung to her overall shape. After a second or two, the light faded and she rose her head towards the Avatar, the pain from the past sudden strikes now gone for the time being.

"Yu paysh fow dat..." ("You'll pay for that...") Pulling her fangs back, electricity began to spark in her mouth before breathing it forward towards the Avatar into a stream of lightning wrapping around itself with incredible density as she focused what power she could into the strike with a loud roar. Lightning Spew.

 

(I really did generate both MegaHeal and Lightning Spew after using those two mentioned crystals on Tes in the NetMonster program. I can screenshot it to prove it.)

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Yukari Yakumo, Reimu Hakurei, Koishi Komeiji

Prologuous

 

Gemini didn’t seem like he was interested in answering her anytime soon. Quite a bummer, but it was understandable. Why would he answer it anyway? Yukari decided to watch him as he sat there drinking his tea, and she couldn’t help but to notice something odd about his boundaries. It was a bit hard to explain. Perhaps she hadn’t seen anything close to this during her long life. The boundary that composed Gemini’s entire existence was flawed and vague in such way that it was anomalous for him to even exist here in the first place. It was as if his concept was anchored to this place completely. Or maybe…

 

Even if I told you, it would be irrelevant, seeing as-

 

Yukari sighed as she heard that. The Avatar refusing to answer her question was also in a way, quite expected of it. She’s not in a position to bargain with it, after all. Though…perhaps it was still worth a try. At least she could enjoy a cup of tea while talking to the people present there. The relaxation was the most important thing she gained from this detour, and it was decent enough for her to be satisfied with it.

 

However, of course it did not last long.

 

HOPELESS AEONS!

 

Countless portals appeared on the skies of Prologuous, directly above everyone present in the area. It was something unpleasant to see, to say the least. The Avatar floated high up on the skies, now looking slightly more humanoid, and having a pair of enormous wings. Perhaps playtime was indeed, over.

 

DESTINY END!

 

“These names lack subtlety and grace in them, aren’t they?” Even as she was making that comment, Yukari stayed vigilant for the upcoming onslaught. The Avatar summoned an almost uncountable amount of black crystal projectiles that spread out around the sky. Seeing them not attacking the people of Prologuous yet, Yukari was sure that these would be the catalyst of the actual attack. But before she could deal with them, the Avatar had spoken once more.

 

THE CRUELTY OF THE AGES! A VAINGLORIOUS END! VALOUR’S LAST! THE AGONY OF DESPAIR!

 

“Danmaku, huh?”

 

And then, what followed next was utter and complete chaos as the Avatar fired out as many different kind of projectiles from above towards everyone present on the pathway. Well, not exactly. It held these projectiles up there for now, seemingly waiting for something else first. Perhaps it was just not seeing the timing as nice?

 

"Goodbye everyone. This has been... tedious. I was going to give you all honourable deaths, but you saw fit to sully my good graces instead by having a tea party. Oh well, maybe in the next life you might be granted you will be a bit wiser. Farewell. ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END!"

 

“That answered my question.” With that, the bullets and miscellaneous projectiles came crashing down, and on top of it the Avatar saw it fitting to rain down beams of energy from the portals too. It was like a ceiling of pure bullet hell. No finesse, but complete and utter chaos, created to defeat the opponent.

 

This would be fun.

 

Just as a blue barrier was erected by…Gemini? Or someone else, Yukari wasn’t sure, Yukari summoned as much of her gaps as possible all around Prologuous. With these gaps, she caught as much of the upcoming projectiles as she could, and after repositioning herself and making a short calculation of the best angle to fire, Yukari summoned another series of gaps and fired back at the Avatar using the projectiles and lasers that she had taken with her gaps.

 

But even then, the bullets kept on raining, and sooner or later, Yukari would need to find another way instead.

 

“Tea time’s over, yeah. I am no longer able to save this tea party from ending. But, with what little power I have…perhaps I can still save something else.”

 

As she said it, the barrier erected by Gemini grew violet, as Yukari started to reinforce it with her own barrier.

 

"And that something, is not you."

 

 

“U-uhhh?”

 

A ruckus woke Koishi up from her sleep. Not the most pleasant way for her, but she was then immediately concerned with the fact that portals and bullets had suddenly appeared on the sky, and within seconds, everything went crashing down.

 

But a barrier blocked them from reaching her. Looking around to see who made the barrier, Koishi was then surprised, and somewhat disturbed by the fact that it was somehow Gemini that did it. Why did he even here in the first place was a mystery of the ages, but without him and his barrier…

 

“Uh....T-Thanks for the barrier, Gemini!” Koishi said to him, at first hesitating, but it ended up coming cheerfully. She could still remember very vividly about what happened in the Pathway of Truth, but at this point there’s no reason to hate him for it. More importantly…right now there’s another thing that she must overcome. Flying above them all was the Avatar, as menacing as ever, but right now Koishi had no reason to be afraid of it. Yukari…and everyone else, they’re here too, fighting alongside her. She’s not alone anymore, so there’s no reason to be afraid of anything. Distancing away from the table as she floated slightly above the ground, Koishi then summoned as many big roses as she could and aimed them at the Avatar’s direction.

 

“Light Sign: La vie en Rose!”

 

As if to counteract the Avatar’s own onslaught, Koishi started to fire her own multicolored beams of light from her roses. But it wouldn’t be enough. As the roses kept on firing, Koishi prepared herself for her next attack.

 

“Rekindled: The Embers of Love!”

 

Around her, hundreds of heart-shaped projectiles materialized, and as Koishi channeled her attack by going into a fetal position, the hearts started to make their way towards the Avatar. Each hearts had a dozen of similar hearts trailing behind them, turning them into a slithering structure that swam freely in the air as the hearts danced around the Avatar, before they all went to directly assault it like a snake would.

 

 

Unnoticed by Yukari and the others as they continued to converse earlier, Reimu had drifted away from the tea party to calm herself down. She considered to visit Revy and her friends to see what were they up to right now, but before she could do that or enjoy the moment of silence away from the nonsense longer, she felt trouble brewing and realized that the Avatar had prepared its attack above her.

 

And, on the next prompt, everything went to hell as the rain of projectiles and lasers started. Far more chaotic than what she had seen in Gensokyo aside from Yukari’s assault on her at the end of Remembrance, nevertheless Reimu rushed upwards despite the intimidating stream of deadly projectiles. Trusting her extremely honed reflexes and instincts to guide her entirely, Reimu fluttered around gracefully, passing through thin gaps between projectiles while creating a path for her to follow using her barriers in the midst of the black sea.

 

Noticing the Avatar’s presence before her, she stopped herself before getting too close, and prepared herself to start attacking it…weren’t it’s not for the existence of many blasts coming from behind her, alongside several familiar looking projectiles that almost managed to hit her. Grumbling a bit for her perceived carelessness, Reimu swam through the sea of projectiles once more, and when she figured out a safe position from her supposed allies’ attacks, she pulled her holy needles and sealing amulets from her two yin-yang orbs, and started firing indiscriminately after she made sure to encase herself in barriers along the way to keep herself from getting minced in the meantime.

 

Perhaps the onslaught was meaningless even if Reimu was hoping that the multitudes of needles and seals could at least slow down or disable the Avatar temporarily. Though, that really doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t try attacking anyway. There’s still a lot of way for this to end, and since the Avatar’s arrogance rubbed her off in the wrong way, she was intent on making it suffer.

 

“Treasure Sign: Yin-Yang Sanctifier Orb!”

 

Declaring her attack, one of Reimu’s Yin-yang orb grew to be a hundred times its normal size, and the shrine maiden went forward and fired it straight at the flying Avatar after charging it with as much spiritual energy as possible.

 

---

 

[spoiler=Another]

 

[Yakumo Yukari]

Pathway of Truth

 

“What do you wish to achieve, Yukari?”

 

A fairy was floating before her. The youkai sage knew that she could just remove her from her way, but after doing so many times before, she realized that perhaps she should actually try answering the question instead of avoiding it. What Reimu said from earlier in Remembrance was still ringing on her ears, and she wasn’t really ready to accept everything that the girl said as true for her.

 

“What exactly do you want to hear from me, little fairy?” Her voice was calm. There was no actual reason for her to antagonize the fairy. As much as the fairy was an obstacle that separated her and her goal, Yukari lacked enough determination to just deal with it and move on. Reminiscing of her trouble in Remembrance, she guessed that it might be bad for her if she dismissed what the pathway had for her. The fairy, as terrified it was at Yukari’s presence, still mustered enough courage to be fluent with its speech as it answered her question.

 

“Why are you here? What kind of reasoning might you have to participate here in this mess?”

 

“I am here simply to ensure my world’s survival and continued existence.”

 

“How do you plan to achieve it?”

 

“By utilizing the Door and the power of Origin.”

 

“That doesn’t answer my question, Yukari.”

 

“…It doesn’t, huh? Well…

 

I have to admit that this is getting a bit awkward.” Pausing for a while to think of how she should continue the conversation, Yukari was admittedly unsure on what kind of change would she actually create to ensure Gensokyo’s continued existence. She could still believe that rewriting the laws of her world completely could still work, but she was getting doubts on whether it would even work. And…she was also getting doubts on whether she would actually still go through it even if she could. It wouldn’t be Gensokyo anymore at that rate. It wouldn’t be the Gensokyo that she once loved, nor the one she had dedicated for that one person in the distance.

 

It just wouldn’t be the same anymore in essence. She would’ve saved nothing this way.

 

“Frankly, I still have no idea.”

 

“It’s nice to hear you telling the truth, Yukari.”

 

“Perhaps that’s a start of a change. I guess in the end, I am here since I am not as sure on the path I’m taking in this crusade as I once thought.”

 

“Well…” The fairy smiled, before turning around and leaving Yukari behind. “Why don’t you trust others to help you decide on your path then?

 

You don’t have to shoulder everything, Yukari.”

 

When Yukari was going to answer it, the fairy had disappeared. Yukari could’ve pulled it back to her, but decided as an act of politeness to not do that. Perhaps what the fairy said was more something that she should ponder more as she walked through the pathway instead of being immediately answered. Shrugging at the thought, the youkai sage continued her walk now that there’s no one blocking her on her path.

 

 

“Not everything is going according to your plan.

 

You have lost your world, your familiars, and now you’re losing the only chance to fix the situation. Unwilling to let go, you desperately cling to that chance, seeing no other choices that could save your world as you wished it to be.

 

Even the last two of your allies have abandoned you and taken their own paths. Seeing everything crumbling like this, you realized that you’re far out of your game now. You were too overeager for the prospect of starting over, yet you’re also too cautious on your actions. And thus, you are now left behind in the grand chess game in this place. All alone, limited by an unseen force that simply blocked you from doing more despite of your alleged capabilities.

 

What will you do now?”

 

“…I don’t know.”

 

“Then why are you continuing? Just let things go. There’s really no hope for you anymore. You could’ve saved Gensokyo back then if you didn’t let ambition eat your common sense. Perhaps you would’ve saved a dying world that way. Is it better than nothing?

 

I wish I am in a position to pity you, me. You’ve fallen way too far from your height.”

 

“Perhaps…there are not many reasons to deny that.”

 

“You accepted it immediately? Where’s that prideful, confident air that you once displayed? Where’s that air of authority that you had, Sage of Youkai? I am expecting to see Yakumo Yukari, not some meek old lady.

 

But I guess it can’t be helped.

 

Let’s just be here together, me. Groveling and regretting the mistakes you’ve made so far. Nothing we can do at all now, right?”

 

“...No...you're getting the wrong impression about me, my dear.

 

Grovel…?

 

Regretting?

 

I am Yakumo Yukari, and I am the Great Youkai of Boundaries, not some heartbroken, angsty teenager. Why would I fall into despair due to something as…as inconceivably stupid as this?!

 

I have no reason to deny what you have just said about me. I am…pretty much in the condition that you said. And yes, I have said that I don’t know what I should do next.

 

And that…that is why, I will simply trust the future to the next generation. Reimu…Koishi…and perhaps even that anomalous girl…I will trust them on what would happen next. On the future of Gensokyo. On the future…of everything.

 

Gensokyo is a land that accepts everything.  And thus, it is a land that also accepts ends. But…even so, it is also a land that accepts a new generation. Perhaps…I should’ve let the kids resolve the future incident on their own, but I guess I’m just…too attached to the past. Gensokyo is my land, yet…I couldn’t accept change.”

 

“So…you’re giving up? Is that what you’re saying?”

 

“…Like hell.

 

I shall complete the pathways. And…even if I will be unable to lend a direct hand to them…I shall guide my children to the very end. They have my hopes…no, that’s inaccurate. They’re carrying their own hope, and I know that what’s left of my purpose here is to guide them to achieve it. I have failed to do this to Ran and Chen due to my own selfishness…and I shall not repeat it.

 

For them…for Gensokyo…for everything else, I’ll tear apart the boundary between possibility and impossibility if I have to.

 

And I’ll tear you apart if I have to, “me”. You lacked the determination to be much of a threat to me.”

 

“is that so…?

 

Well, I’ll just go ahead and say that you’re going to have a bad time if you continue on that mindset.

 

But well, perhaps I can just let you go now. It’s getting a bit boring here, isn’t it?

 

See you later, me.”

 

 

“So…am I satisfied with myself…?

 

There’s no reason for me to answer yes, yet there’s no reason for me to answer no. You’re demanding the truth here, the truth from the depth of my heart, right?

 

In that case, let it be known that I am both, and neither at the same time.

 

Would that be satisfying enough as an answer?”

 

The barrier before her disappeared at that prompt, signifying that her request to pass and her answer had been accepted. Sighing in relief, Yukari stepped through the barrier until she returned to the White Room. Facing the only pathway left for her, she took a deep breath, before entering the pathway of Death.

 

---

 

 

 

[The Warden]

[̛[̷A͜n͏͏͘o͡͡the̵r ͠T̸im̷̀͜ȩ́,҉͏ A̷̡͘ń̨ǫţ̨҉h̨̀e̶r̢͢ ̢͢͞P͟ĺace: ́Ṕ̶̧r̶͘ol͘͡o̸̕gú͟ò́ư͞ś̶͠]̡͞]̀

 

The Avatar laughed loudly from the bedlam unleashed by his assault. The suddenness of his attack had sent everyone into disarray, forcing them to scramble about like ants or hide in shells. It was utterly precious how Gemini and Yukari hoped to defend against his assault as the large number of Hopeless Aeon's redirected their angles, all pounding hard on their shield. He didn't even care for the projectiles being sent back at him, as they almost immediately changed direction to go back after the others. "Yu paysh fow dat..."

 

Huh? Oh, it was Tesability. Seems he didn't slap her hard enough... granted, he could see the change within her. Now how did she obtain the crystals needed to scramble her code like that? Questions for another time the Avatar decided as he held his hand out. Tesability's attack coalesced into a sphere of glowing energy that hung from his hand, bleeding her of every last drop of energy until her last pathetic wisps of an attack ended. The Avatar held the glowing sphere in his hand, adding his own energy to it as the thunder turned dark. Without a thought he hurled the energized sphere at Rhadamanthys and Dorian. "You call that lightning welp? It was just a static shock. Allow me to show you real lightning" the Avatar declared as he traced a finger through the air, energy crackling around him as several large clouds formed around the dragonling. "RAGNAROK!"

 

Thick bolts of black lightning struck from their clouds, all of them racing at intense speeds to spear the dragonling through whatever part of her body they could reach. Every second they unleashed fresh bolts, leaving Tesability quite preoccupied. With the dragon out of the way, the Avatar turned his attention to the large yin-yang tao sphere headed towards him. "VOID BREAK!"

 

With a chop of his hand the Avatar somehow cleaved the enormous orb in twain, the halves sailing past him as he addressed the next attack, the Ember of Love. The Avatar laughed arrogantly as he flickered, teleporting a short distance away as he left the attack to seek out the next closest target, Tesability. The Hopeless Aeons were really pounding on the shell the false human and the yokai wench were supporting, but that just left them bigger targets. They might defend from the portals, but now they were just rats in a cage. "VANITY'S EMPTINESS!"

 

Within the barrier, thick red threads formed. Two aimed at the yokai wenches, while a special, golden thread was aimed right at Gemini. With nowhere to run they couldn't escape as the threads pierced them through their hearts. The red would only cause unbearable physical pain, but that golden one? It would attack the aura and spirit, the only two things a shadow like Gemini even had left. Suffering such pain, it would be awfully difficult to defend themselves from the beams pummelling on their barrier.

[Love of Ghibli]

Team Dorian: Prologous

Dorian and Rhadamanthys looked on as the mighty Avatar started to launch a counter attack. The massive Rhadamanthys clasped his hand as proceeded to glow purple. Hmph you think lightning is enough to handle me? Insulting. Greatest Caution! Rhadamanthys clapped down and launched a massive wyvern of cosmos directly at the attack. The massive wyvern hugged the electro sphere until both of the attacks exploded in some kind of stalemate. Hmph how much longer do we have to stay on the defensive? This starting to become a worthy contest again. Rhadamanthys said as he turned to Dorian running off. 

Oh come on, we just started, give the man some time why don't ya? Dorian said with a smile. He knew Rhadamanthys was strong enough to handle that initial attack, but now the goal was to make sure everyone was alive. Alright, this better work! Dorian blinked and his eyes turned spectral as he unlocked his seventh sense and made his way towards Gemini and the two Yokai. Now me watch whip! Dorian made a large sweeping motion with his hands and from under the people with their barriers erupted three pillars of fire to shield the combatants from the threads. Now watch me Nae Nae! Dorian moves his hands a proceeds to make the pillars of fire dance inside the barrier in an attempt to interweave with the threads and hopefully burning said threads.

Rhadamanthys looked on slightly impressed at Dorian's ability to master the seventh sense in shut a short time. Maybe the young spectre has some hidden potential after all.

DO-RI-AN, DO-RI-AN....Then again, maybe not.

[The Warden]

[[Another Time, Another Place: Prologuous]]

 

The Avatar laughed loudly. That foolish brat Dorian honestly thought he could just BURN away the Vanity's Emptiness? What... an... IDIOT! Especially more so considering he left his own ally behind. It was almost poetic now that the mighty yet arrogant Wyvern Rhadamanthys was alone, that he should DIE LIKE HE DID BEFORE! The Avatar's body shuddered and groaned, mutating viscerally as his torso was forced forwards by another budding out of the back. With a disgusting eruption the torso of the Gemini Saint Kanon, now bathed in utter blackness formed behind the Avatar's back, whose own form had changed into that of the upper body of Rhadamanthys himself. The Avatar

loudly as it displayed its new form mockingly to the Spectre. "Do you like my new look Rhadamanthys? By that look in your eyes I see you don't, but, c'est la vie" he cackled loudly.

 

The arms of both Avatar Rhadamanthys and the parasitic Kanon clone were raised high, their hands cupped in the air. Cosmic energy formed in their outstretched hands, a massive, air shattering volume of the stuff. The air was literally vibrating from the raw Cosmos the Avatar was calling upon. "Greatest...!" he cried. "Galaxian...!" the Kanon off-shoot also cried.

 

Prologuous was literally rumbling from the sheer pull and gravity of the two attacks. But instead of going for a ranged attack, the two pieces of the Avatar looked like they were swinging down. And when they did... their form flickered, teleporting right above Rhadamanthys. "CAUTION! EXPLOSION!" the two halves screamed, firing both attacks right down at Rhadamanthys.

[Phantom Roxas]

[Death A7] - Kairi

 

The darkness in the hallway seemed to shift for a moment, and Kairi could smell something burning within the area. Another shift, and Kairi could see what it was this time. Lightning, cutting through the sky, only before fading away. Kairi took slow steps down the hallway, keeping her guard up. Each step audibly clicked against the stone floor, one by one. The blue torches lit her way, the flames flickering around, but still pointed ahead, as if they were being pulled towards something. Or pushed away.

 

As Kairi continued walking, the sound of her steps grew more frequent, but she wasn’t walking much faster. If anything, she was walking more slowly. The frequency of the steps decreased after she had noticed that, and so Kairi stopped. Still a couple more steps continued afterwards, and Kairi look behind herself.

 

”Don’t be afraid.” A blonde girl, wearing a plain white dress, was standing before Kairi. ”I’m not here to hurt you.”

 

Kairi blinked. She knew that this was just the same as what had happened with Ansem, but it was no less surprising. ”Naminé? But how?”

 

Naminé held her fingers over each other. ”It’s simple. Ansem was just a tool of the Pathway to separate your friends. To keep you away from Sora. He went against your group, while I’m here just for you.”

 

”And I guess that you’re just going to tell me that I need to appreciate Ophelia for letting me into this war in the first place?”

 

”Not at all. If that were the case, then I’m sure Ophelia would act in my place. But the Pathway recognizes that there’s more to you. To Ophelia, you were nothing more to her than a pawn. But, Ophelia was a pawn herself.”

 

”To Protheus. That’s why I’m still here. Protheus is waiting at the end of all of this. I have to do everything I can to help the Counter Corps stop him?”

 

Naminé titled her head. Her eyes blinked, but her face was otherwise neutral. Neither a frown nor a smile was directed at Kairi. Her mouth just hung open, closing as Naminé sighed. ”Do you even know what that is?”

 

Kairi bit down. ”No, but… I helped defeat Xansvita. I am a Princess of Heart and-”

 

”Didn’t you agree with Ansem when he said that being a Princess of Heart meant nothing?”

 

”That was just in the heat of the moment!”

 

”A moment isn’t enough. Your help against Xansvita isn’t, either. You won because that’s what Ophelia wanted. You can’t reject Ophelia and expect the mission she gave you to carry you through this war. What are you aside from the hero that saved Sora?” Kairi looked towards the back of the hallway. The entrance she had come through had to be far enough behind her now, but there wasn’t as far as she could tell. ”You’re nobody, Kairi. Just like me. Xansvita was a relic of LERNA’s legacy. A monster that’s had more time to influence the war than you, even after her death. Isamy started this war, and the Counter Corps couldn’t even stop her before Protheus replaced her. What is it that you can do now?”

 

A figure stood in the darkness up ahead. Kairi prayed that it wasn’t the Divine, a trick of the Pathway, or anyone else that might be a threat to her. While Naminé wasn’t exactly threatening her right now, Kairi didn’t feel all that safe either. ”I don’t know,” Kairi answered Naminé. ”But it’s time for me to find out.” Kairi commanded her Keyblade to vanish, and approached the figure. ”Hello?”

 

 

Ending Location: A8 (Approached Kazuya)

[Dad]

Prologous, Killua

 

Upon completing his pathways, Killua found himself back in the white room.  This time, there were no doors for him to take.  Instead, there was a long, empty white hallway for him to cross, with nothing obvious in sight.  Even with his enhanced senses, he couldn't quite make anything out.  Instead, he opted to proceed forward, since he had nothing else to do.  

 

It was a long, slow trek down the empty pathway, giving Killua a lot of mental freedom.  He had been tested with his greatest fears, his deepest truths, and his most sacred memories.  And now, he walked a lonely road, with nothing but his thoughts.  Killua looked around, observing his surroundings.  But the anything that wasn't on this path, lead to a void of blackness, likely trapping someone in a dimension of nothing for eternity.  Or perhaps it made them start the pathways over completely?  Who knows?  For Killua, it wasn't something he was willing to test.  He kept forward, his eyes on the road.

 

Perhaps, however, he had been moving a bit too slow.  He had been walking for what felt like an hour, before he heard noise.  He wasn't entirely sure of what it may or may not have been.  Maybe his senses were playing tricks on him?  Or was he not taking this occurrence seriously enough?  That thought alone plagued him, causing Killua to begin to sprint forward at a light pace.  The sounds became more drastic, more urgent, and more clear.  He heard voices, as if someone was fighting.  He increased his speed again, now full on bolting as if he were running to catch a bus.  But now, he heard screaming.  It was panicked, and deathly.  Killua's eyes glowed, and his hair stood on edge, spiking and surging with electricity.

 

"God speed!" he said to himself, and flashed forward.  He was about to come face to face with an enemy of the likes he had never seen.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Komeiji Koishi

Prologuous

 

“…Well at least I tried.” Koishi mumbled to herself as she watched her Embers of Love attacking the small cute dragon above instead of the dark thing that had just teleported to avoid the attack. Koishi really wondered whether she should try to restrain the creature with her third eye, but she changed her mind immediately, thinking that it would be silly if the thing could be restrained just like that.

 

“…Huh..?”

 

Soon however, she noticed something weird happening on the barrier. It wobbled slightly as if something was disturbing it, but Koishi wasn’t sure about what actually did it. The attack stream raining down on the barrier was still looking pretty manageable, so it shouldn’t be it…

 

However, her thought process was halted as a pillar of flames erupted before her, startling Koishi and made her move back. It broke her current Spell Card, and Koishi started to look around on who might be firing the attack at her. But then, something else emerged from the pillars, and went straight towards Koishi’s heart. Koishi, who was not in a position to dodge the attack, braced herself for the attack to hit her…

 

…But she felt nothing. Whatever it was, as soon as it hit her, she couldn’t really feel anything anymore for several seconds as darkness completely flooded her senses. The girl panicked for a bit due to this, but soon she realized that what was actually happening was that she regressed to her unconscious state by closing her third eye in response to what ended up being a mental attack, nullifying it completely. Figuring that it would be best for now for her instincts to take rein, Koishi closed her eyes, and declared her next Spell Card. Her body was twitching in visible pain, but at that point she was unable to feel any actual sensation anyway.

 

“Discarded flowers, it’s time to bloom on this sad battlefield!

 

Spell Card: Pariah’s Philosophy!”

 

Erasing herself from the perception of everything else on the pathway, Koishi floated and danced around the skies to her heart’s content. Without the restraints of her consciousness chaining her down, she fired chains after chains of roses around the Avatar as she kept on moving around. Roses that bloomed, that grew, that attempted to drain the Avatar of its essences. Koishi kept on firing off the roses at the figure just as it finished its attack. Firing more and more roses, she made sure that the Avatar was completely covered with them before she stopped and moved back.

 

And as she did that, the roses that covered the Avatar started to explode.

 

 

Yakumo Yukari

Prologuous

 

So far, she and Gemini managed to hold off the attack, although she noticed that the projectiles that she redirected at the Avatar ended up being fired back at others, pretty much turning it into a silly game of tennis. Sooner or later, she should figure out something actually more meaningful to attack the Avatar with. As much as she could handle its attacks right now, Yukari knew that sooner or later she would lose in a battle of attrition anyway.

 

Something immediately caught her attention in the midst of the chaos of the battle, however. Rushing from the Avatar’s direction, a thick red thread was fired towards her at high speed. A pillar of flames was erected to stop it, but it failed to do anything on it, and it kept on moving straight at her. Yukari could try dodging it or using her gap to remove it, but doing so would break the barrier she erected. Left with no other choice if she wished to keep her barrier, Yukari braced herself as the thread pierced her body.

 

“Ugh…the hell...is...this..?!”

 

As her body was pierced by the thread, Yukari experienced a rush of sensation creeping all over her. She was subjected to feel the worst possible feeling of pain, which intensified as each seconds passed. She desperately tried to focus her own mind to maintain the barrier, but the pain became more and more unbearable and it became harder for her to do so. Grasping at her fading light, Yukari was determined to keep the barrier up despite of the extreme pain. However, as much as she tried to, it was too much for her fragile body, and soon, her consciousness faded as she passed out from the pain, and with it, her barrier shattered into pieces.

 

 

Kazuya

Pathway of Death, A8

 

Thankfully, Ayame was successful in defeating her other self, but he immediately noticed that she was being too drained from the fight, sinking into the floor. The boy rushed to her side slightly panicking and immediately casted Diarahan on her, hoping that he was able to get her back up again. A quick look indicated that she was not too injured, but simply drained of her stamina and completely exhausted, so that was something that Kazuya was somewhat thankful of. After utilizing his healing spell, he tried to fire off his COMP to have one of his demons carry Ayame to the end of the pathway while she was still unconscious, but it seemed that whatever Naoya did earlier still managed to jam it. With it as his only choice, Kazuya tried to carry the taller young woman on his back. He still managed to do it somehow, probably due to the blessing that came from being a Bel, but he still struggled to move forward while carrying her.

 

”Hello?”

 

While his thought was busy with trying to carry the exhausted Ayame, Kazuya didn’t manage to notice someone approaching him from behind, and not until she tried to greet him that he realized that someone was even there. Struggling to turn around, Kazuya looked at the rose-haired girl before him, and gave her a weary smile to greet her.

 

“Hello there…you’re with the Corps, right?

 

G-guh…she’s heavier than I thought…can I ask for your assistance here?”

 

A bit nervously, the boy threw an aside glance to the young woman behind him, making sure that she didn’t hear what he just said.

 

---

 

But she refused.

 

Yukari Yakumo

Prologuous

 

“I…” Barely regaining her consciousness as her layer of barrier had fallen, Yukari tried to use her willpower to get herself back on her feet, but right now she was still barely able to move due to the pain she experienced earlier.

 

“I…refuse to back down.” Forcing herself, Yukari stood up once more, though she was still far from being stable just yet. She noticed that Gemini’s barrier would probably fail soon, so she might not have much time.

 

Memories flashed before her. The memories of the time she was torn apart by the moon rabbit, of the time she saw every single one of the people she knew descended into madness, the memories of the time the world that she and Renko created ended, all flooded her mind as she continued to return her focus back on the battle. She saw her old friend Yuyuko, her world’s Reimu, Suika, and she saw Renko too flashing before her. Seeing them all there gave her the determination to continue.

 

“I’ve been into worse than that. No way something like that would be able to stop me.” Yukari closed her eyes as her mind revealed all the gap points on Prologuous. She noticed a huge buildup of energy before her as she heard the Avatar declaring its attack. Deciding that it was time, she declared her next attack.

 

“Ride the Waves…”

 

As she said those words, gaps of varying sizes started to appear all over the area, swallowing the projectiles being fired. And another pair, far bigger than the other gaps, appeared just before Rhadamantys, swallowing the attack being fired towards him by the Avatar. Gaining more control of her body, Yukari steadied herself, and did a hand gesture to signal the next part of her attack.

 

“Fight the Ocean!”

 

The pair of big gaps above Rhadamanthys started to shine, and what followed was blasts of pure energy fired straight at the Avatar; utilizing the countless projectiles and the Avatar’s own attack that the gaps had swallowed as the fuel for the blasts. Following it, Yukari immediately entered one of her gaps, and reappeared somewhere on the skies, looking intently at the portals that kept on firing the projectiles wildly. The nature of each portal, and most of the Avatar’s own attacks aside from the one that brought her to her knees earlier led her to understand more and more of its capabilities. Smiling, Yukari then declared her next attack.

 

“Universe of Matter and Antimatter!” Yukari opened her own gaps just near each of the Avatar’s portals, and with a flick from her hand, she rammed them into the Avatar’s own, creating explosions throughout the sky as she attempted to erase those gaps with the card.

 

She wouldn’t be able to last forever at this rate, but Yukari was determined to at least bring the Avatar down with her if she did have to fall here.

 

---

[Love of Ghibli]

Team Dorian: Prologous

 

Dorian's face went into a slight pout when he saw that the threads did not burn and bypassed his pillar of fire. Though to be fair that was a little bit his fault. Had he used his cosmos to see the atomic structure of those threads and act on that then maybe he would've been more effective. Hard to make such choices in the heat of battle. Rhadamanthys raised an eyebrow as he looked on as the Avatar morphed into some weird hybrid of himself and Gemini Kanon. It would've been startling if Rhadamanthys was his weaker self, but now, after traversing these pathways this was almost an insult. The combination of Greatest Caution and Galaxian Explosion was about hit point blank range, but Rhadamanthys wasn't shaken it would've been fun to smash that attack in half. However it looked like someone had some other plans in mind. Rhadamanthys' eyes widened as a portal opened in front of him and absorbed the blast. Rhadamanthys looked down to where Dorian was and the young spectre simply shrugged with the same kind of confusion. 

They both looked around to notice that it was the hostess of the tea party who decided to kick into action. As she called forth a slew of portals to have her attacks converge on the Avatar the two specters looked on in approval. Dorian and Rhadamanthys also took note of the person who barraged the Avatar with rose petals. Dorian and Rhadamanthys flew a safe distance from the Avatar and inspected the scene. Well it looks like the fight is on now. Dorian noted. Indeed. That combining Cosmos thing looked pretty good. Didn't think a singular creature could manifest two different kinds of Cosmos. I would've been afraid if I wasn't blessed with the blood of lord Hades. Rhadamanthys stuck his hand out towards the side in the direction of Dorian. A small pool of energy collects in his hand Dorian puts his hand on top of the pool of energy that Rhadamanthys was emitting. Their two energies swirled and combined. Dorian and Rhadamanthys thrusted their hands at the the Avatar and unleashed a massive blast of both of their cosmos on the creature. 

[Tesability Black]

~??? - Prologuous - Gemini's POV~

At first, he could see the barrier he had raised with the use of Origin channeling through him suddenly tinted into a shade of purple. The words he heard around him made him realize that the barrier had been altered by Yukari, the youkai that had tried and failed to end him on Truth's path. Shaking his head slightly, he kept the barrier up and continued to make it as resilient as possible. He knew full well that if he let go of the connection, the barrier would fade away almost instantly.

The barrier flickered briefly as the golden string punctured through his chest, forcing Gemini onto his knees as he gritted his teeth in the pain that had started flooding through his mind. To his credit, the barrier had indeed weakened, but it still had not fallen. Instead, as the demon tried his best to keep the violet shield up, his mind wandered elsewhere...

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

~??? - Path of Remembrance - Gemini's POV~

Gemini suddenly let go of Neos, falling instead to his side as he gripped tight his chest, a tear or two escaping his eyes. A strangled cry left his throat as he balled up into himself. The demon's words were mostly-incoherent, but there was a few mentions of colorful swears aimed at something called 'the Avatar'.

He had not caught Neos' shocked gasp, nor felt someone trying shake him back into awareness...

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

The false human had shifted from an angered growl to a shocked gasp as he saw Gemini's face suddenly shifted, his darker double shifting from a face of rage to intense pain, a look Neos never saw on him.

"Gem!" The false human had bellowed a shortened version of his double's name as Gemini fell over onto his side, clutching his chest near where the heart should be as he balled into himself. Trying to shake him awake after falling to his own knees beside him, a worried look fell upon his face as Neos realized that he wasn't getting his double's attention.

In fact, Gemini wasn't reacting to him at all.

"I don't know what's happening to him," Neos confessed before looking up and towards Arturia, the concerned look still on his face. "But it must be something to have done this to him."

~??? - Path of Death - Gemini's POV~

If he had the mind for it, Gemini would have been suddenly thankful for the darkness of the pathway as he suddenly fell backwards, gripping his chest as a startled cry managed to escape his throat into the heavy darkness around him.

~Counter Corps - Path of Death - Jace's POV~

As soon as the sudden cry pierced the darkness, Jace fell to his knees as he closed his eyes tightly-shut, clutching his chest with one hand and his forehead with the other. A flood of pain had begun to flood him, one that was sourced from somewhere nearby, and he was barely able to keep aware of himself and what little of his surroundings he could observe.

"Something...nearby...in pain...can't...block it...out," Jace managed to say towards Chandra with a strained voice.

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

~??? - Prologuous - Gemini's POV~

Suddenly, Gemini opened his eyes, the irises having shifted to a fiery-gold instead of their usual color of vivid-red, the blackish-red aura suddenly appearing as he stood up with a growl in his voice.

"YOU ARE NO DEMON!"

It was with a roar that the aura around him expanded, consuming as much space in Prologuous as it could without making physical contact with all within the place. Within the span of seconds did the madness surround them simply disappear, instead resulting in everyone becoming covered in instantly-cooled versions of various liquids comprised of the many things the above had once been made of before the darkness began to fade away. "You are nothing compared to the demon that made me who I am now," Gemini spoke with a hoarse growl, his gaze focused upon the Avatar.

~The Divine - Prologuous - Tesability's POV~

While she had not been able to get another strike in of her own, even with her breath-like attacks, neither had the Avatar been successful in landing one of its many strikes upon her. There have been close calls, that's a given with so much around her, but she had been always missed anyway so far.

"YOU ARE NO DEMON!"

Tesability found herself hitting the airbrakes as she suddenly began to see a strange cloud of black and red surrounding everything. She would have tried to outfly the cloud, but she suddenly felt the need to not move from where she was as much as she could. As the foggy darkness surrounded her, she saw that it avoided contack with her, even with her constantly-flapping wings.

The red-tinted blackness finally faded, clearing...well, everything that had been around her, allowing her a chance at clear shots towards the meanie in the middle. A grin on her muzzle, she began to surround herself with a large cloud of electricity before diving down towards the Avatar's form.

If the Avatar did move out of the way of this aerial bomb, she would be going through the platform below it skull-first...meaning she would only get a headache from the impact, no matter what she actually hit.

[Gαr]

Ed and Elsa, Pathway of Truth B9 → C10

 

The air felt still even with the pestering wind. Elsa was soaking in Ed’s life story. Elsa felt disheartened, she felt like she was seeing something not meant for anyone’s viewing pleasure. They were not too different after all, her and Ed, despite their very different upbringings. She felt drawn to him because they were damaged in just the right ways.

 

She drew energy from Ed to keep her grounded enough to not breakdown and seeing him bare his soul like that and not stalwart and lighthearted made her see the cracks in the façade.  She wanted to look away. Yet, she wanted to offer him her support. If she relied on him for stability the least she could do was at least offer him the same deal.

 

She knew the cloaked person’s attention was on her. She wrapped her coat around herself even more, going so far as turn away and rubbing both arms. Frost formed where she rubbed the coat sleeves. She regained her composure by taking long, deep breaths and wiping away the frost. She turned with her back straight and shoulders low like a queen.

 

 “Do you view your powers as a blessing or a curse?”

 

Elsa expected a question about her powers, but certainly not that one. “A curse,” she said a little too quickly. She shrunk back a little at the suddenness of her response. “A curse…that I want to use in a way that it is not a curse but a blessing. I ruined my kingdom, I hurt my sister more than once with my powers. I don’t want my powers to be fueled by fear and to cause fear. I want to bring prosperity to my kingdom and spread joy to the people I serve, like I used to do with Anna.” She was a queen in the world of Disney so that was not cliché at all.

 

She would’ve said more but the cloaked moved on. “Do you know why you have your powers?”

 

No, I don’t know why but…” Elsa hesitated. Despite being where she is right now, she still felt embarrassed about. She loosened up a bit deciding to just go with it. “As a child and even now, I liked to think it was because I was descended from a dragon. I remember my parents used to read a book to me and Anna. It said that our world used to be full of different dragons. There was even a dragon that could breathe ice. We used to fight with them but we learned to live in harmony with one another, and help and learn from one another. Some people became intensely close to the dragons, calling themselves dragonlords. Their children possessed the blood of the dragons, sometimes granting them abilities like the dragon they’re descended from or they are mad. I liked to think I had the blood of the dragon of the dragon that could be ice instead of fire.”

 

The wind decided to pick up again. Both Elsa and Ed shield their eyes, lowering their arms after the dust had settled. “That’s it? I did not go through as much emotional as I thought.”

 

Ed sighed. He was still winding down from his interrogation so he went in and out of Elsa’s. He was feeling better now. “We all have our issues.”

 

They started back down the Pathway when Ed sensed someone coming towards them from behind. Ed turned, motioning for Elsa to do the same. They saw a boy in green running towards them at full speed which was actually quite fast. They boy stopped short and the straps of his backpack. “Hey, aren’t you the kid that hung out with that other kid and Yachiru back on the ship?”

 

“Yup! My name’s Gon. The other kid’s name is Killua, he’s my friend. Have you seen him around here, last I saw of him he was racing a dragon?”

 

“No, we haven’t seen you’re friend but we haven’t really seen anybody except…” Elsa felt reluctant bringing up the cloaked person, so she stopped herself. “You can walk with us until you find Killua.”

 

“Alright.” Gon walked in between Ed and Elsa but he sort of regretted it because the two of them emanated coldness reminding him of being buried in the snow back on Remembrance.

 

*Gon has joined the party*

 

“By the way, I’m Elsa and he’s Ed.”

 

“Nice to meet you.” He looked Elsa up and down. “I like your coat.”

 

“Thank you. I like your…shorts.” Elsa liked color coordinated outfits and Gon knew how to do just that.

 

Gon turned to Ed. “Nice swords.”

 

“Nice fishing pole.”

 

They approached the second set of glass bridges and kept on going. The corridor cut off the outside Pathway and replaced it with an ominous glow. Who doesn’t like ominous glows on existential quests? It felt like the corridor went on and on when they were approached by themselves. Gon’s reflection looked just like him except the reflections eyes were a lot more intense and angry. Ed and Elsa’s reflections were different from themselves. Ed was dressed in an all-black robe like cloak. He didn’t have a headband and his expression was grim. Elsa wasn’t wearing Ed’s coat and on a different dress. This one had a higher collar and was tighter and white instead of blue. She looked cold and callous almost malicious.

 

“I think it goes without saying what we need to do.”

 

After going through the black mirror, they each ended up their own world. Ed was back in his inner world. The castle had been repaired since his battle with Kiotso Kurokoriwa. “That fight seems like so long ago now.”

 

Ed was standing on the torii lined path leading to the castle gate. The path was blocked not by his Zanpakuto but his reflection with the badass robe. Ed flexed his hands and the other Ed did the same. “I’ve always dreamed of this situation.”

 

“Is that the one-liner you’re going to open this fight with like you always do?”

 

"Oh yeah."

 

Ed crossed his arms and drew his swords in a high wide arc. The other one reached for his swords at the same time except he did not cross his arms. He drew them slow and methodically and in a low sweep. They waited for a dramatic wind to pass by and when it did, their swords met.

 

Over to Elsa, she was in Arendelle, except passed the bridge leading out of the castle, there was a frosty wasteland with spiraling icicle structures dotting the landscape. She adored the intricate spirals, each one like a snowflake. She slowly turned about the courtyard where she found instead of a fountain, spiraled a tower stylized like her signature snowflake. The other Elsa was walking down the side of the spiral into the courtyard. “Who are you?”

 

“Exactly who you should be, the Snow Queen.” She folded her arms so her right elbow was balanced in her left hand and was lightly touching the corner of her mouth. “Shall we get started?”

 

Gon ended up on the docks of Whale Island. “Why did it come back home?” Gon didn’t know at the time but, home is where the heart is held very true for him. Gon walked off the dock and made his way down the beach. It was a very warm day with a slight breeze. Gon loved these kinds of days, the smell of the forest welcoming after such an unfamiliar environment. He looked up ahead and saw someone fishing on a dock. Gon jogged to the dock and saw it was himself fishing. This other Gon had taken off his boots so he could dip his feet in the water. “Hey, why do you look like me?”

 

“Why do you look like me?” He reeled in his line and recast.

 

Gon took off his boots and stuffed his socks in them. “Good point.” He sat down next to himself and started fishing as well. “Do you know what we’re supposed to do?”

 

He looked over at his duplicate and was startled. His eyes were fiery and intense like he wanted to raze the island just to murder one person. Gon realized that those eyes reminded him of what he felt like in NGL Palace. “I was thinking of a game. Nothing complicated like Knuckle’s Hatsu, but a game.” The angry Gon yanked his line of the water and two badges landed in their laps. They were the badge that Gon had in the Hunter Exam. Gon was slowly catching on.

 

“And all we’re supposed to do is get the other’s badge?” Gon attached the badge to his jacket and the other Gon did the same. “Any handicaps like the Chairman's?”

 

“Nope. But, you get a head start, just because.”

 

Gon slid his fishing pole into his back belt loop and bolted from dock and towards the forest.

 

[The Warden]

[̛[͟A̧n͘ot̨̕h͏e̛r̷̢ ͏T̷̢i͜m͢͠é, ̛́A̷n͞o̴th̶͜͠e̢r̕͞ ͡P҉͘͏l̷̀a͜͞c͞e̶:̶̛ Pr͜o͏̢͟l̸o̧g͡u͏ơu͏̴s]̕]͢

 

This. Was. Getting. ANNOYING! The Avatar was so preoccupied with unleashing his supposed coup de grace on Rhadamanthys that he barely even perceived Koishi's attack on him. The "essence" pulled from his shadowy form turned every last rose black, their pristine forms wilting from his own foul essence. Strange static-like glitches surrounded them, constantly warping their appearance every few seconds. When they exploded, they hadn't even harmed him. Rather, they unleashed his toxic pollen from their blossoms, scattering it across Prologuous. "JUST DDDDDDIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!"

 

In his rage and fury, the Avatar didn't even perceive that the Cosmos-based attacks were being redirected. Following the sudden appearance of high-energy, both heads quickly turned to the source, to find two beams of energy headed right for them. "Oh...." "funk!"

 

They cried out in pain as the beams cleaved right through their torso, taking their entire upper body and head with them. Whatever remained of the upper bodies writhed about in pain, but even that was erased by the only barely accurate shots from Rhadamanthys and Dorian. "BBBBBBBLLLLLLLLUUUUUAAAAAARRRRRR!!!"

 

It wasn't really a word per se, it was more a loud declaration of pain as the Avatar's form began to unravel. Silently gliding over the battlefield, Tesability's misguided attack came for not, as she flew right through him. With quiet abandon to Avatar melted, his shadowy form an enormous smear on the reformed portion of Prologuous. And all the while, the pollen unleashed from Koishi's attack dusted across the battlefield, immune to Gemini's aura. And all the Avatar did was bubble pathetically, a large stain on Prologuous.

[Phantom Roxas]

[Death A8] - Kairi

 

The boy seemed friendly enough, and the girl he was carrying on her back seemed vaguely familiar. At the very least, Kairi knew that they both belonged to the Counter Corps. At least she had found a couple allies rather than anyone from the Divine.

 

”You know,” Kairi said to the boy. ”It’s not nice to call a lady heavy.” Kairi summoned her Keyblade, throwing it at her side, and a light shone around it. In the darkness of the hallway, it hurt her eyes a little bit, though Kairi winced to avoid showing that. As the light subsided, a platform floated in the Keyblade’s place. A shaft rose from one end, with handles on each side, while the rest of the platform was surrounded by small railings. Kairi took the girl by the arm, and helped her off of the boy, lifting her and settling her down onto the platform. It was long enough that the girl was able to lay down on her back, perfectly within the railings. Kairi rested a hand on the girl’s forehead, just to make sure she was okay. ”This should help her for now. But, I should introduce myself. The name’s Kairi.”

 

Kairi was looking up at the boy, but there was someone standing farther off behind him. Naminé, with her arms behind her back, was smiling at Kairi. She was supposed to be Kairi’s “enemy” on this Pathway, but… she wasn’t really much of one. Sure, her questions were important. Kairi needed something to fight for, but she already had that. A home to return to, and especially with Sora. She came here for Sora, and she was going to make it to the end alongside him. That was why she could defeat Xansvita. Out of anyone Ophelia could have brought, Kairi was one of the few people who could defeat Xansvita and save Sora. That set her apart from…

 

Naminé twisted her smile. She reeled her head back in a laughing motion, but Kairi couldn’t hear a sound. ”Stay here,” Kairi said. ”I’ve got something to take care of.” She patted the boy on the back, leaving the resting girl to his care. She went to speak with Naminé, but before she could say anything, before the boy could even ask what was going on in Kairi’s mind, shadows began to wrap around Naminé. The blue light of the torches bent around Naminé, lighting only the space above her and to her sides. As if the light refused to even exist where Naminé stood. Kairi slowly looked to her two companions. Taking in a breath, she asked the boy, ”How fast can you run?”

[Love of Ghibli]

Team Dorian: Prologous

 

Dorian and Rhadamanthys looked on as it seemed as if the attacks had finally started to work. The anomaly known as the Avatar was actually dealt with. For now anyway. What was interesting though was this pollen that has spread all over the land. Dorian looked around and he started to wonder what he could do. Then he snickered. What is wrong? Well I'm not sure of the chemical make-up of this pollen, but this is a real trap for us. At first I thought why not just burn the pollen? Because powder can oxidize and whatnot. Okay, and the problem? Dust Explosions. There is so much of this stuff floating around that it would be insanely difficult to actually to NOT blow us all up. Rhadamanthys simply raised an eyebrow. Why are you concerned about the well being of others all of a sudden? Dorian shrugged. Well let's be honest did we do the majority of the work here? Besides according to our plan we need as many people helping as possible. 

Dorian turns around and looks at the black ball that that Butler was stewing in. Well I'm pretty sure that these warriors are strong enough to survive some explosions. The alternative is probably worse now that I think about it. Dorian snapped his fingers and he picked a pocket of pollen that was closest to the bubbling pile of Avatar juice and he ignited it. Then Prologous proceeded to be filled to the brim with explosions. Let's see where this goes from here.

[Reinforce]

Chandra

Pathway of Death: B5

 

Chandra was walking forward down the pathway, having taken to holding a small ball of fire as they walked with the wooden pathway beneath them and all. Like Jace, she'd also taken note of the wood with nothing else visible beneath them, and was refraining from burning it. She wasn't expecting for the other planeswalker to collapse on the ground, or his thoughts that she'd been ignoring for the past while to devolve into pain and agony. With a quick string of curses flying from her lips, she walked across to him as she threw her hand out to the side, summoning out a phoenix just next to the path they were on. Grabbing Jace and pulling him up onto her back, she managed to move the other mage across onto her phoenix, before starting to jog forward as it flew beside her. She would have ridden it too, but it wouldn't do to lose track of the path, especially as the bird could easily set the wooden pathway on fire if it flew too close. 

 

Ending Location: B6

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Kazuya Minegishi

Pathway of Death, A8

 

“You know, it’s not nice to call a lady heavy.”

 

“…I guess…” Kazuya answered, slightly embarrassed but still trying his best not to make a sudden noise that might shock the unconscious Ayame. The girl, now that he looked at her better, really did seem that she’s from the Corps. She soon summoned an odd-looking weapon from somewhere, and then following it, she also summoned a platform using the key. The girl soon helped Ayame to settle down on the platform, something that Kazuya really really appreciated.

 

”This should help her for now. But, I should introduce myself. The name’s Kairi.”

 

“I’m Kazuya, and the young woman right here is Ayame. Hey, it’s pretty nice to meet another member of the Corps here. So...how about-” Kazuya, feeling that the situation was awkwardly tense between the two, tried to break the ice by also introducing himself and Ayame as a way to start up a conversation between the two. However, he soon realized that something else had taken Kairi’s attention. Well, more like someone else.

 

”Stay here, I’ve got something to take care of.”

 

Right…she would still need to face her pathway enemy, Kazuya thought. But before he could ask Kairi more regarding it, the girl in the distance was suddenly consumed by the shadows as the blue candle lights started to flicker out. The darkness before them was completely unnatural; it was as if light itself refused to exist there. It somewhat shocked Kazuya, who then tried to make sure that both Ayame and Kairi was still nearby. Not because he’s afraid of the dark or anything, it’s just he’s worried about them, really.

 

”How fast can you run?”

 

This couldn’t be good, once again Kazuya pondered about Kairi’s words. It definitely seem like he would really need to get out of this for now, especially with Ayame being unconscious and his own COMP being well…busted. His guts told him to stay and help Kairi with whatever she was planning to do against her foe, but right now he decided to use his logic instead and start preparing himself to run while dragging Ayame in her platform.

 

“Well…decently enough I guess. Not the most athletic person in school, but I’ll do fine.” Turning again to see the shadowed girl (if ‘see’ was even the right word here since there was literally nothing visible), Kazuya then added. “Just tell me when I should start running, alright?”

 

---

 

?????

Pathway of Death, C10

 

“No one’s here, huh…? Welp, maybe they did have finished this pathway before me…” The girl groaned. With how long she battled the Arturia specter earlier, she should’ve assumed from the start that the others would’ve finished before her. Though, she did sense someone leaving the corridors earlier not too far away from her, but she didn’t really bother to check since…well, she wasn’t even sure about who that person was. Looking back at the darkness of the corridor behind her one more time, it took her a minute to finally decide that she would move on and catch up to the others. She stood up and turned around, and started her stride towards the streetlight-illuminated area.

 

Or, that was what she would do if there were no one that seemingly didn’t want her to leave for now. The darkness at first made her wonder about the identity of the person, but soon afterwards, the girl became utterly shocked once the person before her started to greet her.

 

“Been a while, isn’t it?

 

Glad to see you’ve changed this much.” The girl known as Tenco spoke, greeting her cheerfully. The other girl was still baffled at her sudden appearance, but she soon tried to control herself and greet her back.

 

“W-wait how did you-

 

Uh...H-hello…I guess. This is seriously really awkward…” The girl sighed. Tenco, in the meantime, just laughed as she saw the girl being this distressed about the issue. Tapping her back, she then decided to sit next to her, before she continued to talk.

 

“Heey, it’s still more awkward for me, so don’t fret this much.

 

Enjoying your time as me so far?” Seemed like Tenco didn’t want to spend too much time with small talk and just casually start focusing on the main issue. The other girl was of course, surprised to hear the question being asked.

 

“E-eh?!

 

H-how am I supposed to answer that?”

 

“It’s fine though, you don’t have to worry about it. Well I mean, while having my name and myself getting associated with…the things that you did…or…yeah you know what I’m talking about, it’s not really a big deal.

 

And hey, you still don’t fully have an identity of your own. Guess at least, you can still borrow my looks and my name.

That’d be good for you, Tenco?”

 

“You saying that made it feel really awkward.”

 

“With how much it had been used lately it started to not sound like a name at all anyway.

 

Speaking of lately…seems like you’ve forgotten what we’ve done back then…huh? Back when after…I don’t really remember…but back then, we met Yukari, remember?”

 

“Huh?

 

…Oh, yeah I remember that.”

 

“Ah, sweet!

 

Her words about how my world had been destroyed completely still rang clear on my ears, you know. It’s something that’s kind of hard to forget. Though…I also still remember my resolve that I said to her after my short breakdown well, if that amounts to anything. It was something like…taking this adventure so that I can meet all the wonderful people I’ve met in my old journey again. It’s sad that in the end I couldn’t fulfill this resolve, but…well…at least you’re doing well as me.”

 

“That’s supposed to be a compliment or something similar?”

 

“Maaybe? But well, just remember…at this point, even if you don’t have anything…that means you don’t have anything to lose either.

 

So go! Go beyond that wall, go over it, go and go break through all kinds of boundary if you want to reach that back! I’m still questioning your…taste, but I’m not really someone that could talk about it without being a hypocrite. So go, even going through the moon and everything else!”

 

“Alright then, I’ll treat that as something motivational or something if that's what you want.” The girl couldn't help herself but to snark at it, but Tenco didn't seem to mind it.
 

“That’s the spirit!”

 

The girl finally let go of the tension and laughed, and the two went on to continue their chat about a lot of different things, and the adventures that the two of them had before. However, for anyone else that might be watching, she pretty much was conversing and laughing with herself. They’d probably mark her as being crazy.

 

---

 

Yukari Yakumo, Reimu Hakurei

Prologuous

 

“Huh…we actually did something to it…?

 

…This feels really suspicious..”
 

Yukari had little reason to be happy about the fact that she had managed to destroy the portals and how the Avatar had seemingly exploded. Well, she would’ve attempted to have it as a good news but the circumstances behind it was suspicious. And then, not long afterwards she realized what actually made her concerned. She noticed that earlier, as Koishi attacked the Avatar just moments before Yukari blew a load on it, she saw her flowers changing into something. And now, these odd substances were spread through the area. Yukari was curious about what kind of substance it was, but her common sense prevented her from pursuing it.

 

“…The hell are you doing?!”

 

However…this time the biggest threat didn’t come from the Avatar itself. Instead…Yukari noticed that some of her guests during the tea party of earlier, the ones from the Divine, to be more exact, decided to ignite the pollens. Her voice was not heard by them, and as the explosions engulfed the pathway, Yukari was forced to retreat into her gap, reappearing on the corridors leading to the Prologuous. Her look was less than amused, though it seemed that the move did help her figure out what kind of pollens were they. Though for now, she mainly hoped that Reimu and Koishi managed to survive.

 

 

“G-geh!” Reimu coughed as she summoned more and more barrier to protect herself from the explosion. While the Avatar had momentarily been dealt with, some of the Divines seemed to start trying to mess things up by blowing up things in the place. Once she was sure that her barriers could protect herself from the explosion, she started to move around, being clearly really worried about Revy and her friends.

“Revy, where are you? You there? Helloooooooo!”

 

---

[Tesability Black]

~The Divine - Prologuous - Tesability's POV~

If it wasn't for the scenario, the sight of a pair of black and gold hindpaws kicking around in the air as a tail flicked around wildly between them would have appeared rather-cute to many eyes.

After a few moments, unaware of the Avatar's plight nearby, the little dragon that was Tesability finally managed to plant her paws onto the ground before giving herself a solid pull, finally pulling herself into the air for a moment before landing firmly on her rump. "Owie," she whined a little before shaking her head and opening her eyes to the madness around her.

There were so many explosions around her, she couldn't clearly see what was where through them anymore.

One of the explosions came a little close to her tail, which jolted her forward a bit in surprise, before remembering what had been happening before she was buried part-way into the ground like she was.

Though, that blackish-red mist was now gone.

Keeping herself low and below the explosions above her form, Tesability crawled up to where the Avatar remained, giving it a small poke to see if it was really done or not...

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

~??? - Prologuous - Gemini's POV~

For now, the pain of the thread he had managed to shunt away from this form. It still remained, but it was elsewhere among the Paths, specifically upon the Path of Remembrance and away from this personal avatar and the one upon Death, then found himself briefly pitying his double upon Remembrance. The barrier he had formed earlier of dark-blue energy he had compressed to surround only himself and making it almost skin-tight, pulling protection away from others as a pair of dark-blue orbs suddenly appeared in open palms. As soon as he closed his hands around them did they reshape themselves, becoming simplistic yet efficient crystalline longswords in his hands, even as they contained within themselves an faint, etherial glow.

As the explosions surrounded the place, Gemini kept careful on his surroundings, staying on his guard incase something unexpected happened...

...including and not limited to the Avatar somehow taking direct control of him. Both were connected to Origin, in one way or another, after all...

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

~Counter Corps - Path of Death - Jace's POV~

Even as the burst of pain that wasn't his own began to ebb away, he was still trying to raise up further his mental barriers, if only so he couldn't recieve more unwanted thoughts from those around him, including Chandra. However, no matter what he seemed to do, there was one very-scary thing he noticed.

No matter what he did, he couldn't shut out the pain from elsewhere, even if it was fading on its own power.

This is your own fault, freak.

...freak?

The thought felt to have come from the same source as the pain once did, finally recognizing it as from Gemini Rivetter as he returned his awareness to himself with a minor growl in his throat, though he was a little surprised to be laying face-first in what felt like painless flame. Thankfully, he realized what he was actually laying upon before he could wind up jumping off and fall to his death below...assuming he would die after falling.

If you had not altered your own mind on so many occasion, he felt was said in his head as he pulled himself into more of a sitting position on the bird. When was the phoenix summoned? I would not have any convieniently-built paths to walk in here.

Anyone knowledgable with the psychic mind can simply bypass what limp protections you try to create around yourself, all because of the well-laid pathways you yourself have created, little freak.

The hairs on the back of his neck felt to instinctly bristle at the last word, a word that sounded strangely familiar, though he had no recollection as to why.

"Hm, it really is true, you don't remember Vryn at all, do you?" As soon as the trio, if one included the phoenix among them, began to approach one of the impossibility-dark entrances to the stone building that seemed impossible to get around, a familiar figure formed between them and it with a frown on his face and a calculating look in his red eyes aimed at the mindmage. "So many holes within your mind, and only some are of your own doing. You really are careless with yourself, aren't you?"

Before a reaction could be netted from Chandra or Jace, and the latter had already jumped off the phoenix and back onto the wooden path under his feet, Gemini raised both of his hands in front of himself, keeping them in view by allowing a dark-blue light to glow around them that seemed unusually-bright compared to their surroundings. "I realize I'm not exactly a welcome sight, but," at this point did he point one hand towards Jace, "considering his particular Ultimate Enemy could double as the Ultimate Enemy of the Dominaria Multiverse as a whole, you will need all the help you can get against the dragon."

Jace only knew of two dragons that he had been face-to-face to, and his skin completely lost color as the image of one of them crossed his mind in absolute terror that was solely reserved for one specific entity within all of the Omniverse.

 

Ending Point: B8, right before "a tremendously giant building composed of heavy stone".

[Dad]

Kratos, Kenpachi, and Revy

 

They were bombarded by an array of firepower from the Avatar.  Kratos had minimal time to react, but leaping to his feet, Kratos' heels were set ablaze as the explosions that followed him were inevitably avoided.  Lightning trailed him, but with a spread of his wings, Kratos leaped, tackling Revy and taking her out of the way of the Avatar's strikes as he did.  Kenpachi elected to follow, jumping leaps and bounds at a time just to stay out of the way.  Over time, its attacks slowed, and Kenpachi and Kratos came to a grinding halt.  Lifting Revy to her feet, they all turned to see Ragnarok and company deleting the Avatar at last.  With the creature bubbling its way out of existence, Kenpachi made his way over to the seal that surrounded Yachiru, and shattered it with swing of his blade.  She fell out, landing in his arms unconscious.  He threw the girl over his shoulders, as a blur of lightning streaked past him, putting the Shinigami back on alert.

 

"What was--oh, it was just you," he said greeting Killua.

 

The boy came to a skidding halt, rubbing the back of his head nervously.  "Sorry I'm late.  Got caught up in another pathway."

 

"Quite slow, don't you think?" Kratos joked.  Revy nodded her head at Killua.  "Late to the party, huh kid?"

 

"Slow?  Late?  You wanna race or somethin'?  Old people can't keep up with me," he taunted them, sticking out his tongue.  

 

"Old!?  Who you callin' old you little sheet!?  I'll beat you until your testicles drop!" Revy said, snatching at Killua, but being held back by Kratos.  Kenpachi interrupted, turning the trio to face Ragnarok, Rhadamanthys, and Dorian.  "We still have bigger problems on our hands," he said with a grunt.  Kratos folded his arms as Revy calmed down.  "We'll see, Kenpachi.  They did kill this creature, and in turn save our lives.  We should be wary, but I am not willing to do battle with them just yet."

 

Kenpachi stepped through the trio, moving forward with Yachiru still in his arms.  "Then what'd we do now?" he asked to no one in particular.  

 

“Revy, where are you? You there? Helloooooooo!”

 

Revy and the others turned around to see Reimu in a strange barrier, moving around like she was trapped in a bubble.  With Reimu in her sight, Revy knew exactly what to do next.  "We get drunk, that's what," she said sarcastically.  "Reimu!" she called, waving the girl over.  "Over here!"

[Reinforce]

Chandra

Pathway of Death: B8

 

Jace was moving again, though his mind was still radiating pain, and had jumped back onto the pathways from the phoenix she'd made to carry him. The being that had been radiating the pain, the same one that had tortured Jace during the path of truth, was back again. It was starting to seem that no matter where they went, Jace couldn't escape him. Even so, for all that she wanted to burn the purple ditto, she was worried about what he'd said. An ultimate enemy that could double as that for all of Dominia, a dragon at that. While seeing it in Jace's mind was the first time that she'd actually seen it, it's name was one she'd recognised, as the same being that had manipulated her into helping to release the Eldrazi from their prison, and was most likely the same dragon Ramaz had been a minion of. Nicol Bolas, the same dragon the path would probably class as her ultimate enemy as well. In a single phrase, she spoke the thought that was probably going through all of their minds. 

 

"Well, fuck."

[The Warden]

[[Another Time, Another Place: Prologuous]]

 

"Well... that happened."

 

The state the Avatar was in, from an outsider's perspective, would be that of an enormous paint stain. To his perspective however, he could be considered his own dimension a very small distance thick. "That was certainly a fair bit of ham in that, I think I may have actually gotten angry there. Getting too into it I suppose. Credit where credit's due, they certainly got me by wit of getting too into things. That also hurt a metric funk tonne. Hmm? Oh come now, really? They're exploding the pollen? Are they TRYING to actively kill themselves at this point? Also... what the hell is poking m- Oh right, Tesability. What a dunderhead. Oh well, time to go back to the voice."

 

Tesability's pokes swiftly became her undoing, as the black matter of the Avatar clung tightly to her claw, refusing to let go as she was dragged paw-first into the black puddle of the Avatar. Within the infinite emptiness of the void, the Avatar's two "eyes" appeared, focusing intently on the dragon. Many of their irises were bleeding profusely, providing a rather macabre effect. "Tesability" the Avatar spoke tot he dragonling.

[Tesability Black]

~??? - Path of Death - Between Jace, Chandra and Gemini's POVs~

 

"Well, f*ck."

“I believe we can all agree to that, Ms. Nalaar,” Gemini stated simply in response to the pyromancer’s rather-blunt comment, still wearing the calculating look on his face as he finally lowered his hands to his sides before glancing towards the mindmage. “Even him.”

Looking at the other two, Chandra shrugged, not really wanting to stand around waiting, and walked forward into the building.

Gemini stepped out of her way as she did, shaking his head before glancing towards the frozen-in-place mindmage and took a step towards him. “...the dragon had that bad an effect on him?” Bringing up a hand in front of Jace, Gemini let sound a loud ‘snap!’ that brought Jace’s attention back to his surroundings.

“Wha...oh, you.”

“I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t allow your…” Unsure of the next word to use, Gemini glanced back towards the entrance Chandra walked through before letting out a growl. “Don’t have time for this.”

Without any ceremony or dignity, Gemini picked up Jace and threw him over his shoulder, whom started kicking at the shapeshifter to let him go before the pair went through the impossibly-black entry.

Behind them, with everyone else gone through, the Phoenix followed along back towards its master and through the entrance as well.

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

"What see you, soothsayer," boomed a nearby voice within the darkness that consumed almost all the light within.

"Three are approaching, master," a feminine voice replied, falling into a strange, vaguely-disturbing cadence. "World-walkers, mana-drinkers. Solid still, they stand amid the shifting illusions that one has long mastered."

"Three?" The darkness of the pathways trembled with the sounds of shifting scales faintly echoing around them. "Three...tell me."

"Mind-breaker, thought-taker, eye-blinder, dream-raker. He walks the intentions of others as easily as he walks between worlds, but knows not his own. Bound to one world by laws that existed long before himself, he forces himself to stay to repent for sins performed at behest of another."

"Forced wanderer, fire-dancer, thrill-seeker. Even having found herself a new family after losing her former to the cruelties of her world, she still feels alone among the flames. Her tendency to apply her fists instead of her logic has led her a long way, but the time for such will soon draw to a close."

"Ah, them," came the echoing voice from around them. "They have arrived, as predicted, but...what of this last one?" A heavy silence suddenly reigned over the area, which was soon greeted by the sound of a bony claw tapping lightly against something. "Soothsayer?"

"I...I almost...almost cannot see the last," the feminine voice admitted before continuing. "Animal-born, demon-forged, ever-changing, insanity-driven. He knows not yet his own self, for it was molded for him by others, the chance to discover for himself who he is robbed from the young soul. Sight granted to see the past, present and future of all shatters his mind further and makes him more unsure of whom he is supposed to be."

"...but the alien is upon a different path, how can he be here as well?" A growl of annoyance before a pair of wings became heard flapping for a second, creating a brief gust of wind in the area. "No matter, I will deal with the whelps."

“Interesting descriptions,” Gemini remarked after hearing what he assumed to be descriptions of the three in their unusual group.

“I kinda like mine, besides, who needs logic when fire will suffice anyway.” Chandra remarked about what she was guessing was about her.

Gemini, who was tired of Jace kneeing him in the chest, finally put the man down onto his own feet. “You need to work on your strength, child.”

“I am seriously sick of you and Neos man-handling me like that,” Jace snapped before turning around, trying to see through the darkness with both his eyes and his mind, purposely refusing to comment about the little string of words he figured was linked to himself. “We all heard Bolas...but where is here?”

“Judging by what he was saying, here as in this pathway, the Pathway of Death. Though how Gem can be on multiple at once is something I don’t get.”

“Unlike you two, I am bound to Origin while my counterpart is among the paths. A ‘forced puppet’, so to speak,” Gemini spoke with a growl added to the end of his words.

“A puppet, or a slave, having to obey your master’s wishes.” Chandra remarked back, enjoying a chance to snark at the shapeshifter for what he’d done in the previous path. Gemini was about to turn to face Chandra, eager to do more than just slap some humility into her when the sounds of wingflaps became heard.

And the one blue mage in their group was already readying a variety of counterspells before the large golden dragon finally emerged in their view, his size making the trio seem like insects in comparison. “Ah, not the alien, but his shadow.”

As the dragon came towards them, Chandra’s Phoenix flew straight at Bolas, aiming at the eyes at the top of his head. At the same time, Chandra raised her hand, casting the first spell of the battle, leading off with a Magma Jet bearing up at the dragon’s head. With ease did the large dragon move his head out of the phoenix’s path before lifting a claw and making quick swirls in the air to stifle the Jet with a Spell Snare...though the Snare immediately found itself Dispelled by Jace, allowing the Jet to instead strike the beast in the neck.

Jace was strangely silent, outside of the undecipherable string of words he was saying under his breath in quick succession. With the phoenix having missed it’s target, it curved around for another run, flying towards the right wing this time even as Chandra prepared her next spell. This time, however, the bird scored purchase, its claws grabbing one of his wings...though Nicol simply craned his neck in order to look at the bird. “Annoying,” he simply remarked before opening his large jaw to snap at the phoenix.

Nicol, however, did not get to close his muzzle around the firebird. Instead, it was suddenly snapped shut by what appeared to be a glowing flying eel whose eyes appeared to bear similar markings to that of the mindmage’s usual attire. The eel was soon no longer alone as its image flickered for a moment before splitting into multiple eels, six to be precise.

“Heh, the Mindseeker and the Rite of Replication. Nice,” Gemini remarked, a sideways grin finally appearing upon his face as his hands momentarily glowed before a pair of dark-blue crystalline blades, taking on the form of longswords, appeared in his hands. “Time to join this dance myself.”

Chandra finished off the spell she’d been preparing, throwing out a large Banefire at the wing not currently occupied by her phoenix, before waving her hand to send two other phoenixes out at the dragon. Flying towards the same wing the first phoenix was tearing at, a Flamewing Phoenix and a large Scarrgan Firebird appeared, both flying quickly to try and join the one already there.

The dragon released an annoyed roar towards the swarm around him as he swatted away a few of the eels and one of the flaming birds, managing not to flinch as the flames from the Banefire torched his free wing. “Annoying insects never learn,” he snarled before taking a deep breath. Without warning did Bolas exhale, a stream of scorching flames exiting his maw as he directed the flames all around him to scorch the eels and the various firebirds out of existence.

Chandra could probably recognize the blaze as a variant of the Bonfire of the Damned as the blazes soon flew towards her and Jace, though the latter didn’t seem to bother moving out of the way of the blaze. Bringing her right arm forward, Chandra took control of the approaching flames, pulling it in to funnel into her gauntlet. With them taken care of, she tapped the power that was burning around there to power her next spell, rapidly casting three more copies of Chandra’s Phoenix in short succession, before using the rest of the remaining power to throw out a Firebolt at the dragon.

“Someday, someone will best me,” the dragon began to say as the spells flew towards him. “But it won’t be today, and it won’t be you.” A loud roar interwoven with unspoken words resounded, the spells flying towards him suddenly disappearing, as if he just had the Last Word on them.

“Maybe, or maybe this will be the day that you will fall by our hand.”

“I wouldn’t underestimate him, Chandra,” Gemini warned as allowed the blades to disappear for the moment. “Any blue mage can turn disadvantage to advantage.”

“I’m well aware of that, blue mages generally are the most annoyingly infuriating opponents to face.” Chandra replied, even as she turned to give a quick glare at Jace, whom still seemed to be staring ahead towards Bolas, silent and unmoving save to cast his spells.

“...is it just me,” Gemini began to say with a worried look on his face while looking towards the mindmage, “or does he look a bit checked out to you as well?”

“No, I’d agree with you there,” Chandra replied as she turned back to face their enemy, “He does look a bit out of it.”

“I hope he snaps out of whatever has overwhelmed him,” Gemini replied as three points of pink light appeared in front of him, one in front of his face and the other two near his open hands to form a triangle. “Otherwise, this won’t end well.” The three points of light suddenly connected to one another before filling with the same light. “Back home, Dragons were weak to this element, let’s see if the same holds true here.” With this did the light burst forward in the form of a ray, striking true upon Bolas…

...whom seemed unphased, which left Gemini with a shocked look on his face. “The Light of Ruin...failed?!”

“I guess that element doesn’t work as well as you were hoping then. Still, I wonder how well he can do against this spell.” Bringing her hand forward once more, she threw out a small red ball of mana, that instantly duplicated itself seventeen more times before flying out in a whole barrage of Grapeshots.

A roar echoed as the dragon was struck with the barrage of flame balls before it just...disappeared, broke up into bits of illusion.

“That wasn’t the real one,” Jace finally said, still standing in the same location. “Bolas wouldn’t do himself what he can send another to do for him.”

 

“Damn, I thought I might’ve had him with that one too. Now we’ve got to find him as well.”

“Before we do, Beleren,” Gemini stated before moving directly into Jace’s line of sight, leaning forward so that red could meet blue. “Mind explaining why you were doing next to nothing?”

And Jace fell silent once more, as if he was focusing on something other than here. The leaking thoughts that had been plaguing those around him had also stopped somehow. Even snapping in front of the mindmage’s face netted no reaction. Letting a sigh escape his lips before lowering his head forward for a moment, Gemini glanced over towards Chandra. “You will probably enjoy this a little too much...but mind trying to see if lighting something on him will net something?”

Chandra grinned, in sort of a cat-that-ate-the-canary way, before walking closer as she brought a small flame into her hand. Thrusting the flame towards Jace, she held it over the edge of his cape, near the neck to see if that might work. “If merely burning part of his clothing doesn’t work, I could always try his hair next.”

While no movements were made, the flame suddenly went out as soon as it approached the cloak. “No one damages my cloak,” Jace spoke with only a whisper, to which Gemini raised an eyebrow.

“Possessive,” the demon remarked before standing up straight. “Didn’t peg him the type.”

From high above, a blackish-red flame flared out at the trio, hoping to scorch them alive before they could respond...but it was not meant to be.

A loud bang sudden became heard as the trio felt slightly revitalized as Jace lifted his eyes towards the darkness above, the blue over his eyes tinted with a lighter shade as their gaze fell upon a once-invisible shield of blue and white energy, the resounding Fall of the Gavel echoing throughout the area. "My ruling is final. Order will be upheld," Jace stated in a flat tone. "Justice will be done."

"Justice, bah," a familiar roar became heard. "As if you can speak of justice, little murderer. How many people have you killed with your power, Beleren? How many final thoughts have you heard before you silenced their minds for good?"

"I am not the one facing judgement at this time," he replied with an eerie calmness. "You are."

“Using your power to murder people, to kill them by wiping away their very identities. You would strip them of any way to fight back with that power of yours. This is why I hate telepaths. That power of yours really is something ridiculous for any opponent of yours to fight, isn’t it. I’d beat you up right now if I didn’t have a bigger target to fry.” Instead of trying to defuse the impending explosion between the pair, Gemini instead momentarily closed his eyes before reopening them, a dark-blue light shining through the red.

Under his breath did he let fly a litany of swears that neither of the Planeswalkers would have understood, due to the language used not being from their multiverse. “I can’t even use Aura Sight to find this hatchling, either. Can’t see anything for that matter, not even you two, and you both shine bright otherwise.”

“Maybe some fire would help with that, it’ll certainly light this place up better,” Without casting a spell, Chandra simply let fire pour out from her body, avoiding the shapeshifter and planeswalker while blazing out everywhere else it could possibly travel in the area around them. “Show yourself, you damn whelp.”

“I am, by far, older than all of you combined, infant.”

“Yet you hide like a coward, fearing what we could do to you.”

“I will admit,” the voice suddenly said before a trio of dragons, all of them appearing the same landed around them and speaking in unison. “His sudden use of Azorius spells is slightly-disturbing.”

With three dragons surrounding them, Chandra directed the fire still burning around to direct itself at the copies, trying to burn through them to remove the illusions that had obviously been cast. “You may have shown yourself, but you still hide behind those illusions. I wonder, are any of these you this time, or are you still cowering in the shadows, like the last one we beat.”

“All are him,” Jace spoke, unblinking with the flat tone still consuming his voice. “All are him, but his power split in three.”

A growl left the trio before one of them lunged forward towards Jace, only to be stopped suddenly by a shield of blue energy, this one dark-blue instead. “I may not be able to do much damage wise, but I can stop you from such cheap shots.”

“You are a demon,” the dragon trio pointed out simply. “Why do you not fight like one?”

The only response Gemini gave to that was to flip off the dragon to his many faces. “...elegant.”

Chandra meanwhile, was taking advantage of their distraction to prepare a volley of spell of her own. This time, instead of sending wild gouts of fire out, a concentrated Fireblast aimed at one of the dragons that hadn’t attacked yet. Casting again even as she unleashed that spell, a smaller flame, the colourless Ghostfire following in it’s wake. Without stopping, and with more targets to hit, she spun to another, casting Combust on the other dragon, before throwing out another Magma jet at the same target.

While one of the two moved around and forward towards the pyromancer, the others began to scribe arcane symbols in the air before releasing the energy within. Soon, a shuddering chill fell over Chandra, as if something was pulling against her mana with a Hindering Touch to stop the storm of spells she had let fly earlier. Scowling at the sudden group of counterspells, Chandra cut off the flow of mana, letting the spells vanish away. Not all of the spells vanished though, Combust kept going towards it’s target, an odd quirk of that particular spell rendering it uncounterable, if only targettable against an entity with an affinity towards blue or white mana, meaning that the one casting the sudden storm of counterspells still got a faceful of flame.

The one that lunged forward, however, was suddenly met with a pair of blades made of dark-blue crystal, one in each eye that wasn’t there before, netting a violent shriek from the now-sightless member of the draconic trio. “Forget about me already,” he asked with a smirk still on his face, allowing small, almost-invisible orbs of dark-blue energy to appear near the heads of the other two. “Bad idea, chickies.”

Still annoyed about the counterspells, though at least happy that one spell got through, Chandra started to build up a larger spell again, taking the time to charge it up with enough mana that it could do a lot of damage this time around. As a rumble started, Chandra quickly diverted the mana away into her gauntlet, leaving it there until she could muster the concentration for the spell she had been trying to cast again.

As she charged up her spell, a sudden rumble was felt through the floor. Then another, and another, as if something huge was walking towards them. Gemini almost dropped his guard in surprise as he raised his head, trying to see if he could discern what was coming through senses other than his sight. “I don’t know what’s coming,” he admitted, “but I smell something with both red and green mana coming for us!”

That something soon showed itself in the form of bark shaped like a large hand wrapping around one of the dragons’ arms, specifically grabbing the one that tried striking at Jace first. More of the being entered view of the flames, revealing an elemental, a mighty tree filled with life and rage.

“Rumblehusk...arrives,” it managed to slowly say before grabbing one of the struggling dragon’s wings and snapping it in two with a sickening crack. It was a giant compared to Bolas, and Bolas was a large being already. “No one...harms...the Guildpact…”

“Wait, who knows red and green spells here,” Gemini asked in shocked, almost falling on his ass from having to look up.

Chandra didn’t say anything in reply, but gave an aside glance towards the only person around that she’d seen casting weird mana combinations they weren’t supposed to lately, the other planeswalker.

Lifting one of its arms like a club, the double that had casted the counterspells earlier actually let out a fearful squeak as he tried on multiple occasions to try to banish the monstrosity away, only to find his voice suddenly gone due to Swift Silence. It soon met with the arm-club, the impact echoing with a disgusting squish as it connected with his skull first before hitting the floor.

Upon the ‘death’ of the duplicate, it broke apart into blue energy before floating towards the remaining two, recombining with them for the time being. The natural monstrosity soon turned away from where it has once faced towards the others, the rage of Red evident in one as it tried to claw away at the living tree with claw and flame.The black one, the blinded one, soon began to try to focus on a spell that needed no true targets to harm the world.

Noticing the distraction of the two, Chandra brought the power she’d stored away back out ready, enhanced by the path through the gauntlet, before being thrown out to hit the already blinded one. The burst of red mana flew out to form a glowing red ball high in the sky, above the whole battle, before a burst of fiery light burst out of the Red Sun’s Zenith, directly on top of the black dragon.

Before it could cast its own spell, the black-manaed dragon let out a sickening roar of pain as the sun scorched it away, evaporating the black and traces of blue that had made it. A look of panic entered the gaze of the final dragon as he hopped back and away from the tree that continued to follow after it.

A look of sorrow suddenly fell on the last dragon’s face. "We were gods once. Did you know that?"

Chandra looked confused at that. “The planeswalkers? I’m not aware of any time that has been true.”

The lizard shook his head. "No, I suppose you wouldn't. Not at your age." A weak sigh escaped his lips. "The Spark burned so much brighter then. We willed our desires upon the worlds, and the worlds obeyed. And then, the catastrophe on Dominaria and we..."

"...we are less. Less than we were…” And the club-like arm came down on the last dragon, breaking his neck upon impact before plowing all the way through to turn the body into pulp in its path. “...and less than...we...will...be..."

The dragon disappeared, faded into the darkness of the pathways. “That was...interesting,” Gemini remarked, relaxing his stance slightly before turning around at the sound of a sudden plop, seeing Jace having suddenly collapsed with no sign of power coursing through him still. The Rumblehusk soon faded away as well, almost in time to Jace’s fall. Nearby, Chandra also collapsed to her knees, not entirely down, but most of her energy gone from all the spells she’d been casting as well. Letting out a sigh of his own, Gemini crossed his arms in front of himself as he thought, tapping his foot as he did. “Pfft, doubt a Rapidash form would work here…” Gemini looked back up towards the pair when he noticed something.

He was pretty sure the mindmage’s clothes didn’t look like that a few seconds ago. Following Gemini’s gaze, Chandra noticed the same thing the shapeshifter had, breaking down in laughter as she did. Unlike Chandra, he wasn’t focused on the clothing.

Gemini was focused on the scarring that covered Jace’s arms and what he could see of his back that wasn’t covered by the cloak. As he thought on them, Jace shivered a bit, a tear or two leaving his eyes as the beginnings of a sob hitched in his throat. Noticing that, Chandra’s laughter died off, leaving a more sombre face looking at him.

“Please...stop...Tezzeret...no more...I won’t…”

“...this bastard’s been tortured.”

“And whoever this Tezzeret guy is, he’s probably the one responsible.”

Kneeling next to the shaking dreamer, Gemini carefully picked him up bridal-style before standing up once more and glancing towards Chandra. “Think you can walk or will you need a lift, too?”

Standing back up, Chandra replied, “I’ll be fine, I can still walk yet.”

To this, Gemini shrugged. “I offered,” he stated before starting to walk forward through the deafening darkness around them, eventually walking into an area lit with strange lampposts scattered throughout the place. “If I’m correct,” Gemini began to say, “sometimes the lights flicker out here and you see very-brief flashes of the future.” For a brief moment, Gemini looked down on the shivering mindmage asleep in his arms, catching sound of a muted cry as Jace continued to stir in his sleep.

 

...he forces himself to stay to repent for sins performed at behest of another...

[Phantom Roxas]

[Death A8] - Kairi

 

“Well…decently enough I guess, Kazuya said. “Not the most athletic person in school, but I’ll do fine. Just tell me when I should start running, alright?”

 

Kairi looked over at the girl, Ayame, resting. She had prepared a healing with the transformed Keyblade, but the girl had yet to wake up. ”You might have to start running now. Get Ayame to safety. I’ll hold her off.”

 

”’Him.’” The shadows had completely consumed where Naminé once stood, spiraling around, reaching high into the corridor. Wind kicked up, extinguishing the two closest torches, the shadows shooting out from the spiral. Standing beneath them was a man - if he could be called one in dark red and purple robes. At his side, he held a staff adorned with an emerald covered by a pair of wings. ”Surprise, princess! I bet you thought you’d seen the last of me.”

 

Kairi nearly summoned her Keyblade, but that could have left Ayame defenseless. ”Sliske. Why are you here?”

 

”We never were formally introduce, now, were we? Well then, here I am! Sliske, in the flesh. Or at least, as much as this Pathway allows me. Now then, onto business! You still have yet to answer my question, Kairi. ‘What are you aside from the hero that saved Sora?’ Do you truly, honestly think that you have broken free from your role as Ophelia’s tool? That you can become something more?”

 

”I thought this was supposed to be about my future. First Ansem, and now you. Why are you talking like that’s all I’ve ever done?”

 

”Oh, I’m afraid you’ll have to take a trip down memory lane for the answer to that one! But really, why should get such an answer? You can barely manage one for this Pathway! I know your fear, Kairi. You want to be a savior. You came here for Sora, and you wish to keep on protecting him. How touching. But, is that enough? You could save Sora from Xansvita, but that was a very specific circumstance, where Sora was Xansvita’s power. Could you do the same to any of the Divine? To Prothteus? You could only weaken Xansvita. It was that other woman who helped bring him down, and Ventus had to sacrifice himself to hold him for the final blow. That woman… what was her name again? Izumi? Itsu?” Sliske tapped his staff against the ground. ”In any case, she had this. She defeated Xansvita with his own weapon - the one he stole from me. And that’s where you come in. Well, more like you don’t. So you saved your dearly beloved. Well done! But you were hired for more than that. Ophelia wanted everyone, Counter Corps and Divine alike, dead. Whether Xansvita was defeated because of you or I, the only difference is that Sora is alive. And really, what is he doing now? Chasing that woman. Trying to take this staff from her out of his hopeless sense of honor to people he doesn’t even know! And really, to what end? Seeking this staff is Sora’s only purpose now, and he doesn’t even want it for himself. What’s important now is whose hands that staff falls into. If I had succeed in my job, then Xansvita would be dead, and Sora along with him, and the staff would be in my possession. Unless, of course, Izumi still managed to take it for herself. But if she could not, then I would be standing in Sora’s place. You would have failed in your mission, but even succeeding is no different from that. The staff belongs to Izumi now. All you’ve done is brought out someone to hunt her down. Whether it be Sora or myself, Ophelia left an enemy for Izumi, and I’m afraid that you have no reason to live to see that fight. Your role is over, Kairi - finished!” Sliske pointed his staff at Kairi, energy crackling at its head, as streams of electricity shot forward.

[Love of Ghibli]

Team Dorian: Prologous

Dorian and Rhadamanthys looked on as it appeared that their explosions were catching fire and slowly detonating the entire area. As Rhadamanthys and Dorian figured those who could survive the blast would via some kind of barrier. As the dust cleared thought there wasn't much difference in scenery. The pollen should've been eradicated, but it was not of any consequence. Well that more or less did the job right? Dorian said looking over to Rhadamanthys. Do not drop your guard. You should work on the cheering up thing. Rhadamanthys shot Dorian a stern glare. I mean, come on, it looks like Kratos and them were able to survive. Rhadamanthys looked as he that faction coincidentally decided to turn and look at them. There is no way opponents of that caliber would be taken out by attacks of your level. So what are you saying I couldn't damage the final boss over there then. You were not fighting the final boss. You were fighting pollen. I would hope you were strong enough to take out pollen.

 

Dorian was about to reply when he and Rhadamanthys both felt the immediate sense of despair and madness waft over them like an instantaneous plague. The both of them quickly turned around and saw the black ball the Butlerok was housed in and start to crack and slowly as one hand stretched out and pulled itself out of what seemed to be a pool of black blood. As Butlerok emerged the black blood started to enter all of the open pores in his body and he looked at both of his teammates with a cold gaze. It was at this moment Dorian and Rhadamanthys felt as if they had died. they looked bewildered if only for a second because they both knew that it was virtually impossible for either of them to die, but not only did they feel the coldness of death staring at them they felt as if they themselves wanted to stop living. This new feeling overwhelmed them as they watched Butlerok call forth a weird staff in his left hand and Ragnarok's sword form in his right. Um...Welcome..um back. Dorian said with a slight shiver. Can you turn this off! Rhadamanthys demanded. Butlerok looked on a the two and the kishin symbol appeared on his head, but this time the center eye of the symbol turned into some form of widjat that intensified the malicious aura around him. Butlerok took a deep breathe and brought back all of his malice as he regressed into a more docile state. 

So that was an experience. Dorian said as he looked on at Butlerok. The new evolved Kishin cracked his neck twice and looked upward at the mass of eyeballs bleeding in the sky. It looks like we are still in the middle of combat. Really, is that all you have to say right now? Dorian replied in a slightly sarcastic tone.

[Kingdom Xathers]

 

Team Lombax

Pathway of Truth - A9

“... we should get going,” Alister declared to the others as soon as the General’s supposed doppelganger vanished before their eyes. “We still have to catch up to Sayer--”

“Hang on a sec, Al!” Ratchet interjected just before anyone could turn to leave. “Now I’m curious, too. Who’s “Alpha”, and why was he here just now? Is he another of these “Altisters” hanging out in your watch? What was he doing standing before us just now?”

“Hell if I know why he was here, Ratchet,” Alister blurted, “but in a ways it doesn’t matter that much. These Pathways have been screwing with us the entire time, and we now have something to look forward to. Our, “true selves”,” he finished with air quote fingers.

Ratchet simply started back at Alister with tilted head, not quite satisfied with his godfather’s answer. With rolling eyes and an exasperated sigh, Alister relented. “Okay, fine. Alpha is, well… he’s supposed to be the “first” me. The me that… that died at the Great Clock. And supposedly the reason why he’s not inside my watch with the other Altisters is because he… well, he wasn’t recorded inside it when he died,” he explained, not just to Ratchet but to the others in the group (aside from Alexander, Umbris and Clank, all of whom had already seen Alpha before).

“Perhaps because you were separated from your watch when the Great Clock’s energy erupted,” Clank hypothesized. “I remember when Ratchet and I found you after the Great Clock was fixed; your watch was just barely within reach of your hand from where you lay….”

“It’s possible. He said that it was because he died before the watch was “upgraded” with the temporal energies that cause the recordings in the first place. So there was no real chance for him to be recorded before I--er… before he died,” Alister explained.

“... I think I might need a bit of context here,” Red spoke up as he idly drummed his fingers on his staff. “Maybe from the beginning, where you blew up.”

“... as long as I’m not telling my life’s story,” Alister sighed out. “But what else can I add aside from what I know? My watch was “upgraded” when the Great Clock unleashed its quantum energies, Isamy came around and revived me when I was about to die, and whenever I did die during this war, the watch recorded a representation of me within itself before returning to the point when Isamy revived me. And each time my watch “reset” itself, my Time Control abilities were strengthened, little by little. I dunno, I only learned about this whole “Altister” deal a few hours ago myself….”

“Which is something, in hindsight I should understand with Zayon and Reid. This is rather unnerving, to say the least,” Red uttered with small hints of shock.

“I think it’s an interesting concept,” Alexander chimed in. “I mean, aside from the fact that those Altisters have been essentially trapped inside your watch for what would amount to at least seven years to the point that one Altister went insane and perpetuated the Time Loops/Time Resets even further so as to find a way out.”

“... and now I wanna strangle Moony. And I would, too, if I didn’t know that’s exactly what he’d want,” Alister grunted.

“Errr, right,” Red uttered, thinking how to change the topic. “So, we better be moving along then, shouldn’t we? We have more pathway to go, after all.”

“Then it’s time we head down into the possibly-dark, creepy hallway,” Umbris declared nonchalantly as he and Alexander led the way down to the crystal corridor.

“Hold up!” Red suddenly declared loudly, attracting everyone’s attention. “Given that they are in fact possibly-dark, creepy hallways… perhaps we shouldn’t be so earnest in throwing ourselves down them all at once. Sayer is still out there, and these hallways are the perfect opportunity for an ambush. I think maybe we should split up into groups, and move down them with, say, five minute intervals between us. That way, if the sound of fighting could be heard, then the other parties will be more prepared,” he explained.

“Can’t really argue with that logic,” Gabriel nodded.

“Okay, so,” Bayonetta asked, “who’s going to be paired up with whom?” Almost as if to answer, Jeanne immediately latched her arms around Bayonetta. “Jeanne!”

“Admit it, we would’ve been paired up anyway,” Jeanne replied cheekily.

“Well, I at least volunteer myself for the lead group,” Red decided.

“And I’ll, uh, lead the lead group,” Alister declared. “So, that’ll make it Red, myself, and-”

“Actually, Alister. I’d like Ratchet and Clank to join me,” Red cut in assertively. “You can go with Alexander and Umbris, which leaves Gabriel with the Witches.”

“Oh? Uh, s-sure, that works out well enough, I guess,” Alister stammered slightly as he scratched the back of his head.

“Guess that’s settled then,” Alexander chimed in. “Red, just make sure Ratchet and Clank are alright down there. If anything happens, don’t hesitate to holler.”

“Easy there, “Uncle Alex”,” Ratchet chuckled. “Red and I can handle ourselves just fine, don’t you worry.”

Alexander couldn’t help but to sigh. “Yeah, but being told not to worry is when I worry the most.”

“Don’t worry your pale head off Alex, I’ll have someone watching my back,” Red winked as he knelt down, presenting his back to Ratchet. “Won’t I, Ratchet?”

“Ya got it, Red,” Ratchet nodded with a thumb’s up as he hopped on Red’s back.

“And at the very least,” Clank added with his chuckle, “I shall watch both of their backs.”

“Please do, Clank. Just be careful, you guys,” Alexander pleaded sincerely.

“Yes dear,” Red said wearily as the trio were the first to set off into the corridor. It was indeed darker within, but at the very least it was a bit brighter than the initial corridor thanks to whatever light from outside reflecting and refracting off of the crystalline walls. Still sorta creepy, though.

“Alright, Red,” Ratchet spoke up as they were a little more than halfway inside the corridor by then, “admit it; you wanted to spend a bit more time hanging out with me, didn’t ya?” he asked knowingly.

“Ah, ya got me,” Red chuckled playfully, holding his arms up in defeat. “Guess you’re too smart for me huh?”

“Hey, I don’t mind,” the lombax chuckled back. “I sorta wanted to hang out some more with ya, too.” “I just hope we get that opportunity when this is all over,” Ratchet thought to himself.

“I felt now would be a good time, considering we’re on better terms this time,” Red chuckled wryly. “And also so we can talk without Uncle Alister and Auntie Alex harassing yo- us.” (“Suddenly I feel like punching somebody again,” Alexander blurted out on the outside of the corridor.)

“Oh? What about?” Ratchet inquired.

“I… have no idea to be honest,” Red admitted with wide eyes. “I honestly just wanted a little extra time with you because… ah heh heh heh, well, honestly, you might find the answer a bit ridiculous,” the dragon chuckled, blushing a little.

“At this point, Red, ridiculous might as well be the norm,” Ratchet shrugged. “I mean, I did find out not too long ago that Alister had a drunken one night fling with my dad during their college years. Your answer would have to be, err, more ridiculous than that to throw me off-guard.”

“Ha ha ha,” Red laughed, trying his best not to throw Ratchet off with his convulsions. “That is indeed true, it would be hard to top that. Heh, still…. I suppose it would sound strange, coming from me, but… when I’m around you, I feel something like, paternal feelings, if that makes sense.”

Well, the answer wasn’t (too) ridiculous, but it did catch Ratchet off-guard a bit all the same. “O--Oh… really?” the young lombax stammered softly, now being his turn to blush. “W-Well, I… heh. Wow. Never thought I’d be getting such a “family” at a time like this. I mean you, Alister and Alex, I… yeah, I kinda get what you’re saying, Red. Even though our time together so far has been very short, I see you as part of my family, too,” Ratchet concluded with misty eyes.

Red chuckled modestly, to hide a small tear running down his face. “Thank you. I know it sounds a touch bizarre, but, to be honest, when around you, I get these peculiar desires to defend you with my life, like a parent would. I haven’t felt that way since I was instructing young dragons back at the dojo, which is why I love being in a group again. I like being amongst people, which is a far cry from what was only thirty or so minutes ago, really. But, if it’s all the same, I’d be happy to be one of the fathers you never had, Ratchet. And... I’d be happy if you could be the child I never could have.”

“... sure… I’d like that,” Ratchet softly replied as he briefly pressed his face against Red’s back.

“Heh heh, look at us. What a pair of sentimental fools, aren’t we?” Red laughed humourlessly. “Ha ha, it boggles the mind, really. How are we going to make this family work?”

“Such things tend to work themselves out for the best, Red,” Clank spoke up as he and Ratchet both shared a glance.

“Yeah, I think I know. Although, if Reid’s memory was any indication… the sunsets of Fastoon are rather beautiful. I would rather like to see one in person,” Red smiled fondly.

A slight smile formed on Ratchet’s face. “Well then, we’ll make sure you get to see those sunsets, Red. We can all watch them, together,” he affirmed confidently.

“I’d like that. It’ll be something to reward us while we’re building the portal,” Red agreed.

“... wait, “portal”?” Ratchet thought to himself, shooting a rather confused glance towards Clank, who stared back with equally confused eyes.

“Something wrong?” Red inquired.

“Oh, it’s uhh…,” Ratchet trailed off, not sure if he should allow himself to speak his mind right then and there, especially with the Pathway influencing his “filter”. “Uhm… wait, what’s that?” he blurted out as he pointed ahead of them towards the end of the corridor that was now just a few yards away from them; a large reflective surface took up the entire surface of the wall facing them. A mirror, except it also appeared to be mostly black within the reflection.

“If I could muster an educated guess… it’s a mirror,” Red remarked in a deadpan tone.

Ratchet rolled his eyes as he slid off Red’s back, carrying Clank on his back as he strode a bit closer to the mirror, only stopping as a cold chill sent vibrations all along his spine. "Wh... What is it about this mirror?” Ratchet quietly gasped. “It feels... wrong. Just like the rest of this Path, but...." Even so, his body soon began to move again, cautiously drawing him closer toward the mirror; the closer he got the it, the clearer his own reflection came into view until he was standing just a foot or so away from the surface.

… … phew, okay, so his reflection looked a-ok, not warped into anything hideous or anything. That was a bit of relief for Ratchet… until he got a closer look at his reflection’s face. Again, no, it wasn’t twisted and grotesque, but its expression was different from his own (“That is not the same expression you have, Ratchet,” Clank helpfully pointed out); Ratchet’s reflection stared back at him with fearful-looking teary eyes, quivering lips, and wilted ears. Overall, the lombax’s reflect appeared downright frightened about something. “Ar… Are you seeing this, Red?” Ratchet croaked.

Red was silent as he stomped forward, his own visage now reflected in the cold mirror. He could see the fear and doubts that lay within the Lombax’s reflection, a stark contrast to his own concerned look. “Curious,” Red muttered as he got in close to his reflection, his reflection doing the same. “It’s funny, really. This is the sort of face I want to have, if just to show my concerns with my decision. It’s very likely that this mirror shows how we’re feeling on the inside…, well, that, or it’s just trying to mess with our heads. Anything goes in this Pathway, after all.”

“Right… … but, wait a sec,” Ratchet blurted out upon realizing something. He spun around to look towards Red, his back now turned to the mirror as now Clank stared into the slightly worried expression of his own reflection. “How are we supposed to get further down this Path? This mirror is the only thing in this corridor. Are we supposed to enter the mirror somehow?”

“Of course,” Red chuckled, kneeling down to Ratchet, “mirrors tend to be more than just portals to the truth, since, well, they tend to be used as portals as well,” he explained in a way that sounded like the answer was completely obvious. “However, you didn’t answer my question from before. And, your reflection only makes me more concerned. What is it that’s troubling you Ratchet?”

The lombax quickly glanced back at his own reflection before sighing and returning his attention to Red. “Well, you said something about building a “portal”,” Ratchet explained. “I mean, is this some sort of future vision that this “Reid” granted you, or some sort of instructions? I mean… what’s the portal even supposed to be for?”

Red’s yellow eyes pierced through Ratchet, before, he just smiled knowingly. “Ratchet… when all of this is over, I’ll have a whole new universe to explore. But, before I do that, I will have to repay back my debt of salvation,” he explained slowly, rising to his full height. Slowly walking away from Ratchet, the dragon kept his back to the lombax, giving him only an aside glance. “Before I go there, I will want to collect some personal items, including research documents from my world. Dragons were amazing at portal technology, but we still paled in comparison to Avalar’s Professor, whose portal could access other dimensions. He linked the Dragon Realms and Avalar together permanently. I possess a copy of that portal’s blueprints, and, with them and enough Light Gems in hand, I will recreate that portal in your universe. Once it’s done, I will use it to look across countless dimensions,” he declared in a soft tone, hiding the true grandeur of his statement. Slowly rotating about, he faced Ratchet at his full height. “I want to repay you all by finding and recovering the lombaxes, and return them to their rightful world. It will take some time, but I have enough to waste really.”

Ratchet felt as though he was losing his balance; Clank hopped off of Ratchet’s back just as the young lombax stumbled back against the mirror’s surface. “... y… you can really do that?” Ratchet uttered softly, a hand held softly against his chest.

“Not to ruin this moment, Red,” Clank spoke up, “but I must warn you that prior instances of tampering with space and time in our universe has left it susceptible to being warped. The Great Clock is able to keep such anomalies in check, but I advise that if--or, that is to say, “when”--you set out on this endeavor, that you take the utmost care not to do more than is necessary.”

“... I think what Clank’s trying to get at is “Don’t create a permanent portal between my universe and the lombaxes’ dimension or both could go kablooie”,” Ratchet chimed in with his own translation. “But, seriously, Red, that… that would be a great help. I’m sure Alister would be grateful….”

“That’s why I want to do it, for Alister. Granted, I dunno how I feel knowing how little faith you have in our portal technology. Magic tends to be a lot less volatile when it comes to piercing dimensions, and Light Gems are the most stable sources possible,” Red remarked, pouting as best he could.

“Aww, you’re so adorbs when ya fake-pout,” Ratchet teased the dragon. “I’m not saying that I’ve little faith that your plan will work, just… well, sometimes you can never be too sure of this sort of thing; our universe tends to have a, uhh… rather schizophrenic sense of humor. Speaking of which,” he added as he turned around to face his reflection, his hands pressed against the mirror’s surface, “I think we should find out what kind of sense of humor this Pathway has. Now, if only we knew just how to… huh?! Uhh, guys…?!” Ratchet uttered frantically; his reflection, the reason for his distress, had suddenly reached through the other side of the mirror, tightly interlacing its fingers around Ratchet’s, preventing the lombax from pulling himself away. The reflection continued to stare forward, unnervingly so, even as Ratchet had his head turned to the side while requesting assistance from either Clank or Red: “Guys, seriously, I think I’m in some really deep s*** right now! HELP!!”

“Ratchet!” Red cried, stomping forward and grabbing Ratchet by his wrist. He pulled as hard as he could, but he was clearly fighting a losing battle with the mirror, seeing as his own reflection was doing the same, effectively counterbalancing Red’s efforts. He released the lombax’s hand, his reflection doing the same. “I can’t stop it,” Red explained desperately, before realizing something. “Let it take you, Ratchet. This is a part of the Pathway’s plan. I’ll go in after you, and see you on the other side.”

“But--” Ratchet began, not exactly liking any part of this.

“Red has a point, Ratchet,” Clank replied as he hopped onto the lombax’s back. “Going through this mirror is the only way to proceed. Do not worry; I have your back, Ratchet.”

Somewhat calmed by his friends’ reassurance, Ratchet relented. “Okay. I’ll do it. Well,” he said as he turned to face his reflection, “whenever you’re ready… or is it, “whenever I’m ready”?”

Ratchet’s reflection cracked a slight, half-hearted smirk before dissipating, just as the mirror’s surface began to undulate and ripple. Steadily, Ratchet and Clank found themselves being drawn into the mirror, vanishing from sight as Ratchet stepped through to the other side. Red frowned as Ratchet was drawn in, his reflection still wearing that look of apprehension. “You probably think this is funny, right?” he said to his reflection.

It said nothing, but, it’s not as if he expected it too. “Pity, I kinda do,” Red sighed as he charged through the mirror.

“Think that’s been five minutes?” Umbris said aloud.

“A little over five, actually,” Alister confirmed after checking his watch. “So, who’s gonna head in next, again?”

“Should we draw straws to find out?” Gabriel suggested.

“No need; Jeanne and I volunteer to go next,” Bayonetta chimed in.

“We’re most curious to see what our “True Selves” have in store for us,” Jeanne added.

“”Curious”, eh? Not an adjective I’d use,” Gabriel uttered, “but hey, being curious is good, too, I guess.”

“Come now, my little Gabby,” Bayonetta purred, “we all have to have a positive mindset if we’re to get through whatever trial this Path has for us next. Now then,” she added as she turned to face the lombaxes, “if there are no objections….”

“Nope, we’re cool,” Alexander nodded. “Go on ahead, ladies. And Gabby.”

“Splendid~. Cereza, let’s get this show on the road,” Jeanne beamed as she proceeded to drag Bayonetta behind her, the raven-haired beauty looking quite perplexed, her quite-literally fine ass dragged along the ground as Jeanne led her and Gabriel into the corridor ahead.

… … …

After a few moments of walking--during which time Jeanne allowed Bayonetta to get up and walk on her own--the two Umbra Witches eventually reached the end of the corridor, face-to-face with the mirror, and no sign of Ratchet, Clank or Red. “Well, this is curious. The boys are gone,” Bayonetta noted. “And yet, I can still feel a trace of Red’s mana in here.”

“I’m going to take an educated guess,” Jeanne chimed in, staring into the mirror--and the rather huffy face of her reflection, “and say that this mirror is the way they went.”

“Further and further into the looking glasses we go, eh?” Gabriel spoke up as he stared at his own reflection, making no visible reaction to the sight of his human reflection having the same plushie-like details that he currently had, button-eyes and all. “... … … … … … … … uhh, aren’t either of you gonna comment on this?”

Neither Jeanne nor Bayonetta replied, as they were each more focused on their own reflections, the raven-haired witch particularly intrigued by the expression of her own: a soft, and rather sad, smile. “... well, this is certainly quite odd,” she admitted, “but we really shouldn’t focus so much of our time on this. Gabriel, let’s go… G-Gabriel…?” Bayonetta stammered as she frantically looked around for the lion plushie.

“Over here!” A muffled cry drew Bayonetta and Jeanne’s attention towards the mirror, where they saw Gabriel on the other side, flailing in the hands of a bulky, black armor-clad figure, who was also accompanied by two other armored individuals: a short one in white, the other in yellow and of average height. These three individuals gave the Umbra Witches a nonchalant wave before vanishing from sight, taking Gabriel with them.

“GABBY!” Bayonetta nearly shrieked as Gabriel disappeared from sight. Without a second thought, Bayonetta dove through the mirror’s surface.

“... dammit, now I have to go in and bail her out, don’t I?” Jeanne shook her head as she stomped off into the mirror.

As soon as their ten minutes were up, Alister, Alex and Umbris made their way down into the corridor, soon arriving at the mirror at the end, just as the others had before them. “... … so, I’m gonna hazard a wild guess here,” Alister sighed heavily as he looked away from his reflection--which had a condescending, know-it-all expression on its face, “and say that everyone else slipped through this mirror to proceed further on ahead. How many cookies do I get for that answer?” he added in the same dry tone.

To his surprise, Alister found himself figuratively face-to-face with a small plastic bag filled with chocolate chip cookies, held before him by Alexander. “Go ahead,” Alexander replied to Alister while still staring at his own reflection, unable to take his eyes off of the blank, almost dead look of his reflection’s face. “I, uhh, just finished baking these.”

Alister shot Alexander the most incredulous, dumbfounded look he had ever given anyone in his entire life. “Wha-- But-- When did you--?”

“--started about twenty minutes ago.”

“WHERE did you--??”

“--my satchel’s pocket space.”

“HOW did you--?!?!”

“--an Easy-Bake Oven hooked up to a back-up electric generator.”

“... just gimme the damned cookies...,” Alister grumbled as he accepted the cookie bag.

Alexander wasn’t joking when he said that the cookies were just freshly made; the contents of the bag were still warm to the touch, and the aroma that tickled the General’s nose as soon as the bag was opened was quite enticing… before the writer could have a chance to turn this into a food porn segment (and fail miserably), Alister scarfed down two of the soft-baked cookies in one go. He grumbled something under his breath as he chewed through the chocolate-chip goodness.

“Beg your pardon, Al?” asked a confused Alexander. “And please don’t forget your manners.”

“Eh, fat piggies like him typically don’t remember to have manners,” Umbris teased meanly.

“That’s no way to talk about your “boyfriend”, Umbris,” Alister retorted after having gulped down the semi-doughy paste that was once the cookies.

“‘SCUSE you, Terris is not “fat”!” Umbris snapped defensively. (“Gachimuchi” Alex said quietly.) “Most of that mass is pure muscle, y’know…!”

“Eh, whatever,” Alister sniffed dismissively. “Not like it’s any of my business what the two of you will end up doing… … to each other.” With that, Alister turned to look back upon his reflection, only to be hit by a wave of confusion as he looked upon the reflection’s face… or whatever the collective of scribble-like markings passing themselves off as facial features was supposed to be called. “T-Too-Dee?!” Alister gasped out.

“Well, that’s unexpected,” Umbris flatly blurted out.

“What’s going on with your reflection…?” Alexander asked, perplexed by this development.

“I dunno, but I don’t like it…!” Alister stammered as he shook his head, believing that it was all just a trick (which, technically, it was). Another surprise awaited him as he took another look at his reflection, to see that this time it was back to mostly-normal, except for the gaping hole where the right (left?) eye should have been. One hard blink later, and Alister’s reflection became… “HUMAN?!?!” Alister shrieked out upon seeing his reflection change species in the almost-literal blink of an eye. Granted, the “human” Alister reflection was quite ruggedly handsome… for a human, of course, but still. “You’re seeing this, right?!” Alister yelped at Alex and Umbris. “I’m not the only one seeing this, RIGHT?!”

“Can confirm: Not the only one,” Umbris confirmed. “Something must be going on with you, specifically, Al.”

“But, what could possibly be… ?!?!” Alexander trailed off as he took another glance at Alister’s reflection, and was met with a shocking surprise. “AL!!”

Alister, too, was stunned, but found himself at a loss for words; his reflection had returned to being a lombax, but was now covered in dark violet stripes, glaring back at Alister with yellow luminescent irises, along with a wide, wicked smile. Despite its body and face not moving, the lombaxes could have sworn they heard a raucous, sinister laughter coming from the other side of the mirror. The same glow overtook the General’s eyes, and… he just felt compulsed towards the mirror. His feet were like bricks as he walked towards the mirror and, before Alexander could check to see what was going on with the General, Alister disappeared through its surface without a word.

“Al--! s***, he’s gone…!” Alexander cursed under his breath.

“Guess we gotta go in after him, then,” Umbris shrugged.

Alexander shook his head. “No, I don’t think going after him will take us to the same place,” Alexander mused. “... what Alpha said, about us facing our “true selves”... that’s what this mirror is about; going in, we’ll each be confronted by our “true selves”, and overcoming them will be the only way to proceed.”

“Well, let’s not waste anymore time, then,” Umbris nodded. “I’m gonna Shadow you, though, so we can both do this together.”

“Good idea,” Alexander nodded as Umbris’s body melted into a shadowy mass that seeped into Alexander’s own body. [spoiler=With that done, Alexander turned to face the mirror one last time… … ?]

“... … … … well, can’t really say I’m surprised at this point,” Alexander said in a quiet whisper.

“Alex…?” Umbris asked from inside the lombax’s head.

“... by the looks of it, Umbris,” Alexander spoke up as he began to step through the mirror, “you and I will be getting the final pieces of this puzzle known as “My Life”....”

[Tesability Black]

~The Divine - In the Avatar - Tesability's POV~

 

A quick 'eep!' escaped her muzzle before being suddenly dragged into the blackness of the pit that the Avatar had become, causing her to flip head over heels several times in a row as she fell farther and farther, finally spreading her wings out to catch herself before shaking away the dizzy.

 

"Tesability," she heard before spinning once around herself to get a view of her surroundings, making herself a little more dizzy before shaking that away, too.

 

"Yu now keepsh meh hewe," (You no keep me here.) the little dragonling quipped in clear defiance before trying to fly back up the way she came, surrounding herself with a shield of constantly-moving electricity as she did...

 

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

 

~??? - Prologuous - Gemini's POV~

 

"...idiot NetMonster."

 

Gemini could not help but shake his head at the sight of the ever-curious dragon that found herself quite literally becoming one with the opponent, clicking his tongue as he kept his guard up. On the one hand, she'd be one less headache to deal with in the future. On the other hand, he'd never hear the end of it from their shared puppeteer. A moment of sobriety suddenly fell over him as the memories being forged in the Path of Death came to him, causing whatever good mood he had to die.

 

"Another has been..." Releasing a sigh, Gemini summoned forth a large ball of energy before reforging into a long, thin string and throwing it into the puddle and holding onto one end. If he got pulled hard enough, he was going to let go before he joined the idiot down below the darkness...