Roleplay:Odyssey



A figure cloaked in white sat in a wire-frame chair, seemingly made out of emerald green, glowing circuits. He waved his hand in front of him, and a screen showing a clear picture of Station Square appeared. "Everything is prepared," he said, "All that's left is to set everything in motion." He then snapped his fingers, and instantly a green haired fox appeared on screen. "You won't escape with your life, pest." He closed his eyes, and the screen vanished. He leaned back in his circuit chair, interlocked his fingers, and completely relaxed himself. "Now, time to watch events unfold."

'''If you would like to join, please ask first. I'll let you know when will be a good time to bring your character(s) in.'''

e.g. If the story is taking place in some remote location with no one around, it's unlikely that someone would just appear.

'''However, people can always appear if the story is in a populated area like a city. Get it?'''
 * No Godmodding (I will be scanning for it)
 * No twisting the plot to revolve around your character
 * Stay on track please. This RP has a plot and a goal. Simple sidestories are okay but should not distract from the main story.
 * Also, try not to start random fights unless they're important
 * Also, during fights, please try to be realistic. As far as I know, there is no one with infinite stamina, nor is there anyone with a reaction time of 0.0 seconds. Nobody wants their characters to get hurt, but trust me, the story will go on FOREVER if people aren't being rational.

Protagonists
Beat the Cat

Banzai the Monkey

Ciel

Pyra "Inferna" Fireheart

Shade "Tendril" Nightwing

Burst Pyrite (E-113:Xi)

Smash The Echidna (by Smash The Echidna)

Splice The Hedgehog (by Smash The Echidna)

Pearl The Echidna (by Smash The Echidna)

Gizmo The Cat (by Smash The Echidna)

Kitty The Cat Chao (by Smash The Echidna)

Violet The Hedgehog (by Smash The Echidna)

Crystal The Fox (by Smash The Echidna)

Kyle Tyris The Hedgehog (by Smash The Echidna)

Keela Tyris The Hedgehog (by Smash The Echidna)

Amber The Cat (by Smash The Echidna)

Cutter The Echidna (by Smash The Echidna)

Silver Abelard The Cat (by Smash The Echidna)

Cold the Hedgehog (by Tailsman67)

Skate the Hedgehog (by Tailsman67)

Lisa the Iguana(by Tailsman67)

Flame the Hedgehog(by Tailsman67)


 * Drago The Titanium Dragonoid(Metal)
 * Edward The Artificial Robloxian Hedgehog

Rapid the Hedgehog (RTH)

Kyros the Hedgehog (RTH)

Gideon the Moose (Ryu)

Panzyr the Destroyer (Ryu)

Speedy the Hedgehog (Roy the Fox)

Tab The Cat (Kapus)

V's Army
V (main antagonist) Banzai123

Marz (Banzai123)

Gem/Eli (Banzai123)

Lucian (Banzai123)

Kasumi (Banzai123)

Kenkaku(Banzai123)

Ibara(Banzai123)

V's henchmen (Can be played by anyone)

Other
Orochimaru the Snake

Aquella "Tsunami" Oceania (first RP as a villain)

Black the Hedgehog (RTH)

Revived Villains (Villains who were defeated in the past, but revived by V. You can add your own if you like)
PS. They don't have to be dead, just defeated in the past. {C}{C}{C NO MORE THAN TWO PLEASE!

Nusquam (Banzai123)

Chimera (Banzai123)

Vorkusk the Crymnian (E-113:Xi)

Scorch the Flaming Demonhog (E-113:Xi)

Darkyle The Hedgehog (STE)

Anti-heroes
Demon Yamato.

Black The Cat(by Tailsman67)

Zerofuse the Hedgehog (RTH)

Part 1
It is a normal day in Station Square. The city had fully recovered from Sentinel's attack a few months earlier, and life had just returned to normal. A peculiar looking green haired fox girl was walking through the streets of the city, but for some reason, she seemed....fearful -- as if someone or something would jump out any moment.

Tendril is walking by and notices her. Curious, he walks over and asks what is troubling her.

The girl jumped when Tendril walked up to her, but thet quickly feined a calm composure and answered, "Oh, it's nothing. Just thinking about some stuff."

"You sure?" he replies, "You look afraid."

She was slowly turning red in the face. "Well....uh....I..."

Just then she was interrupted by a loud explosion from a nearby building. Out came several robotic, wolf-looking creatures covered in pure white armor, fangs bared, roaring in the street. A few humanoid figures covered in similar armor appeared behind them.

The girl turned white with fear. She didn't run like the other people in the area. She just stood there, transfixed, petrified.

"Over there!" One of them shouted, pointing in Tendril and the girl's direction. The entire group of soldiers and monsters charged straight towards them, fangs bared and guns raised.

Tendril jumps in front of the girl defensively.

The humanoid soldiers fired their guns, shooting energy beams at the two of them.

A thick wall of metal rises between the soldiers and Tendril, blocking the beams and protecting both him and the girl.

The girl then came to her senses. She blinked her eyes once, then ran off, leaving Tendril behind. Then, a scratching noise could be heard from the other side of the wall.

Tendril disappears into the shadows. No sooner than when he vanished did two of the robotic behemoths burst through the metal barrier, sniffing around for their prey. "Where did she go?" one of the soldiers said. "Dammit. Keep looking! She's still somewhere in the area!" The soldiers spread out, as did the metal wolves, all searching for the same person.

The mysterious girl ran as fast as she could through the streets of the city. She darted through alleys and took many detours hoping to lose her pursuers. She glanced back to see if she was being followed when she ran into a blue hedgehog with cyan streaks. There was a white, scaly rope over her shoulders. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She said hastily as she quickly ran past her.

The blue hedgehog remains perfectly still. Not a hint of expression crosses her face. The white rope lifts up and wraps around the mysterious girl and brings her in front of the blue one.

"What are you doing?" the girl said, struggling to break free. "I need to get away from here now!"

The hedgehog girl just blinks. The other end of the white cord lifts up and splits open, revealing it to be a snake. "Did you want to say that again?" he asks in a slow, malicious tone.

"Are you serious? Do you attack anyone who runs into you? Look I have places to go so just put me down already!"

"Do you know who I am?" the snake says, "I am Orochimaru. And yes, I do attack anyone I want."

"Put her down Orochimaru," the blue hedgehog says without a hint of emotion. The snake pauses, then sets the girl down.

"Sheesh, I try being nice, and this is what happens? What's wrong with this dimension?" The fox girl said, walking right through Orochimaru.

Orochimaru turns to watch her leave. There is a glimmer of interest in his eyes that Tsunami immediately recognizes. "Don't think about it," she warns him.

Immediately a large robotic behemoth burst forth from a building and, spotting the mysterious girl, charged straight toward her.

Tsunami, who is standing between the creature and the girl, raises one hand toward the behemoth.

The monster opened it's mouth, revealing a large laser cannon, which then fired a large green energy ball at Tsunami.

Tsunami rushes to the side with blinding speed, dashing around the energy ball. She leaps forward, vanishing as she does so. She then reappears on the creature's shoulders.

The same coated figure from before was surveying the battle from his ethereal lair. The monitor in front of him showed the fight between the beast and Tsunami. "It seems this dimension is crawling with strange people."

Meanwhile, the creature retaliated to Tsunami by sending out an electric charge through the emerald circuits that lined its back, producing visible green sparks and cackling green electricity.

Surprised by the sudden jolt, Tsunami flips backward and floats above the creature. She slams her hand down on it's head, sending bolts of her own light blue lightning coursing through it. However, she found her hand stuck to the creature's head by glowing green energy. It then jumped in the air and flipped over, throwing Tsunami to the ground, and landed on its two hind feet, now seemingly bipedal. It snarled at Tsunami, realizing that the girl had gotten away.

The girl was hiding behind a nearby building, watching the battle unfold. "First some snake guy, now this weird girl shows up. What's wrong with this world?" She nearly had a heart attack when someone put their hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?" he asked. She turned and saw that it was a teenaged, red cat with blue hair. "Um, I'd be more worried about her," she replied, indicating to Tsunami's fight with the beast.

(Orochimaru and Tsunami appeared at the same time)

(?)

Tsunami removes Orochimaru from her shoulders and tosses him aside. She charges forward with unbelievable speed.

The creature simply roared and attempted to slash Tsunami with its claws.

"No way am I getting involved in that," the cat said. "C'mon, let's get out of here before things get messy."

"Right," the girl said.

"I'm Beat. what's your name?"

"Ciel."

Beat led Ciel deeper into the city, and away from the beast.

Tsunami sidesteps and vanishes. She reappears behind the creature and thrust a ball of lightning toward it.

The creature takes the hit, and visibly takes damage from the sudden attack. It attempts to retaliate by firing some electric shots from its mouth at Tsunami.

With a quick burst of speed, Tsunami is suddenly behind the creature again. Reality begins to distort and suddenly the beast is surrounded by Tsunamis.

(You can distort reality? O_o)

The beast was confused by the sudden appearance of so many enemies. All it could do was look around.

(not quite. but what she's doing looks a little like it. she's bending the light and creating illusions)

The Tsunamis each begin charging a ball of lightning.

The creature futily tries to defend itself by lifting its arms in front of itself.

All the the Tsunamis charge forward at high speed and thrust their attacks at the creature. All but the one on it's left vanish while the one remaining slams into the creature hard.

The creature takes the hit, and falls to the ground. It's body turned black, while the green circuitry running through it glowed bright green. It's body then disappeared, seemingly pixel by pixel, until it completely vanished.

Tsunami's ball of lightning dissipates. Despite the fatigue she used to feel after using too many electric attacks, she seems to have just as much energy as when she began. Her face still expressionless, Tsunami walks over to Orochimaru and allows him to slither back onto her shoulders.

More soldiers started appearing on the scene, wearing armor similar to the behemoth creature.

Tsunami sighs, as if only slightly irritated. She begins emitting powerful electricity from every part of her body, electrocuting all of the soldiers at once.

The soldiers were slightly phased by the shock, but their armor protected them from too much damage.

The man observing their fight watched with a look of bored interest. 'Well, that was...something, I suppose. Nothing to worry about though." He then scanned the area on his screen, and spotted a lone hedgehog walking in the street, standing in Beat and Ciel's path. "I wonder what he can do?" the figure asked himself.

(No offense Numbuh, but let someone else get a chance to insert their characters, okay?)

The hedgehog turned around, and the man could see his face. He was casually eating an ice cream cone, as if he knew nothing about what was going on. His eyebrows rose slightly when he saw Beat and Ciel heading directly towards him.

"Hey," Beat said to him, "If your heading down that way, watch out for giant metal monsters."

The hedgehog's curious smile changed to a blank expression. It took him a few moments to let that sink into his mind, though it was almost instantly when he heard a lot of commotion off in the distance. "I wasn't.." He said. "What the heck is going on?"

Ciel could hear the sound of armor clanking together off in the distance. She grabbed Beat's arm. "They're coming!"

Beat looked at the hedgehog. "We gotta get outta here," he said. He ran to hide inside a nearby restaurant, motioning for the hedgehog to join him.

He looked at the two at the restaurant, and then off in the distance towards where he could hear the metal clanking coming closer. A sweat drop rolled down the side of his face. "Wait for me!" He suddenly called out as he dashed inside.

The trio waited in the restaurant, apparently Chinese, while they waited for the soldiers to go away.

"By the way, what's your name?" Beat asked the hedgehog.

"Me? I'm Splice." He said, looking away from the window. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm Beat, and she's Ciel." Beat then turned his head to Ciel. Splice glanced over at the girl, waiting for her to say something. "Do you know why those guys are after you?"

She bowed her head, as if trying to hide her face. "Yes."

"Well, why?"

"Because.....I'm not from this dimension. Somebody wants to use my powers to do, well...let's just say 'bad things'."

"W-what..!?" Splice gasped. "Another dimension...?" He slowly buried his face in both of his palms. "Oh, no. Not agaaain...I've had enough of this dimensional crap since the disaster last year!"

"Huh?" Beat asked. "You mean the whole Nusquam incident?"

"That too!" He said. "Though I was referring to something a little worse that happened before that. Long story. But really, all these dimensional problems showing up are really starting to get on my-"

Their reminiscing was interrupted when the silver soldiers from before broke down the door of the restaurant, causing many people to drop their chopsticks.

"Where is the girl!!" They shouted almost in unison.

Splice was so startled, he threw his ice cream cone up into the air. It landed right on top of his head, cone side up. With ice cream dripping down his face, He nudged Beat and whispered. "Get her outta here!" He told him, barely moving his mouth. "I'll try to distract them!" He walked towards the soldiers, glaring fiercely at them. "What's the big idea, huh? You made me waste my ice cream!" He yelled at them. "I don't know or care what girl you're looking for. Get outta here, you're disturbing the customers!"

The soldiers raised their guns to Splice. "Move or get shot," one of them said. Sudden;y, Ciel got up and jumped in front of the soldiers, blocking Splice. "Here I am." She said. Beat immediately rushed to her side. "Are you crazy!? Aren't these the guys who're after you?" he asked. "Relax," she replied. The soldiers fired, but their targets had vanished.

Beat and Splice found themselves falling through a spiraling tunnel of colors. "What the?" Beat said. Suddenly, they both hit hard, pure-white ground. When they looked up, they saw that they were in a world of...absolute nothingness. There was only flat white ground as far as the eye could see, which met the blank grey sky at the horizon.

"What the, wait what, hold up, HUH!?" Splice stammered, looking around in confusion. "Where the heck...?"

"Sorry for bringing you guys here," Ciel said, standing behind them. "This place is called the 'Blank Point'. It's an empty dimension that goes on forever. I had to get us out of there, but since I used my power, he knows I'm in here now."

"Okay, great. How the heck do we get outta here?" He asked, looking worried.

"Follow me," Ciel said. Beat silently obeyed. If she got them in here, she could get them out. Ciel walked a few feet forward, then opened up a rectangular image of a street in Station Square. "Through here."

Splice looked closely at the image. "Hm, doesn't look like those soldiers are around." He said. "Alright, lets go."

One after the other, they stepped through the image, which rippled like water as they passed through. They found themselves back in Station Square, not a soldier in sight yet they could still hear the sound of gunfire and battle in the distance.

"We need to get out of here," Beat said. "Where can we go where they won't find us?"

Splice looked around. "I dunno..." He said, quietly. He thought for a few moments. "I'd hate to draw them there, but I think it'd be best if we went to Green Flower City." He looked at the two. "I have some friends over there that could help out."

"Green Flower huh. I think one of my friends are there right now!"

Meanwhile, a figure stood atop a nearby building, watching the heroes. He made not a sound, moved not an inch, only watched. Watched and listened. Soon after their discussion, he vanished without a trace.

Ciel sensed a presence nearby, but ignored it and followed Beat and Splice as they led the way to Greenflower City.

"The city is due sou-" Before Splice could finish, another metal behemoth burst from a nearby building, roaring and ready to attack. "OH CRAP WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!?" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Dammit! Don't these things give up?" Beat said.

Beat creates a large blue disk on the ground below all of them, and quickly lifts everyone into the air on it. They are now too high for the behemoth creature to reach it. "Okay, Which way to Green Flower City, Splice?"

Splice clutched his chest, trying to calm himself down. "It's just south from here!" He said. "But if that thing can see us going there, there's no doubt it'd follow us or call the others. Lets try to lose it first!" He suggested.

Suddenly, Tsunami appears behind the behemoth with her back to it. The blade of her sword is embedded in the ground in front of her. After a short delayed reaction, the behemoth feels a slice to it's front legs.

'Well," Beat started, "that was convenient." Ciel gave Tsunami an annoyed look of gratitude. Beat yelled at Tsunami, "I'd give you a ride but I don't think I can take anyone else!"

"Forget it." Tsunami calls back, her voice flat and emotionless, "I didn't do it for you. I'm simply testing my abilities on these creatures."

"Yeah, like we needed you anyway," Ciel said as Beat directed the disk towards Green Flower City. Splice simply scratched his head.

Part 1B: Green Flower City
As the city came into view, Splice held his hand above his eyes, scanning the area. "Doesn't look like anyone followed us." He said. "Okay, so we're gonna need to land...mmm..." He thought for a bit. "We should probably talk to Smash about this first, so lets land over by the western entrance to the city." He pointed to the direction he spoke of.

"You're the captain," Beat said as he turned the disk to the side, heading in the direction Splice indicated. "So, what to we do when we get there?" he asked.

"Well, First things first we need to discuss what we're gonna do about those guys." He said. "What they're after, their true motives, and what they're capable of. We can't run forever." He shook his head. "Sooner or later, we're gonna have to turn around and fight back. If it comes to that, we'll need all the help we can get."

A transparent wall made entirely of glowing green, computer-like circuits suddenly materialized in front of them. "Whoa!" Beat immediately swerved to the side, causing his passengers to grip the edge of the disk to prevent themselves from falling off. "What was that?" Beat asked.

"Oh no!" Ciel shouted. "He's here!" Just as she said this, another wall appeared in front of them again. Beat wasn't fast enough to react, he ran into it full force. The disk they were riding shattered, and the entire group fell to the streets below.

Splice screamed as he fell to the ground. Just before landing, he performed a back-flip and landed on his feet. "Who and WHAT the heck is that!?" He cried out.

Beat manages to create a small net of energy to break everyone's fall, except his own. He landed quite ungracefully on Splice. "Owww! Sorry about that," he said apologetically, "looks like we're going on foot."

Splice had landed in a sort of cool manner, but having Beat land on him ruined it. He was flat on the ground until he got off. "Nice.." He mumbled, rubbing the back of his head. "I don't know what that thing is, but we'd better hurry. This way!" He began to run down the street, leading them towards Smash's house.

"He shouldn't have much control over the area yet," Ciel started as she followed Splice, "I'll explain everything once we get...wherever we're going!"

"We're almost there, Don't worry!" He called back. He pointed down near the end of the street they were on to a rather large house. "That's it right over there!"

However, more circuit walls, albeit smaller, began appearing along the road leading to the house, turning the road into a track-and-field track. Beat simply blasted through the walls using his energy waves, and Ciel, surprisingly athletic, easily jumped over the ones in her way.

Splice slowed down and followed behind Beat as he cleared the path. Once they finally reached the house, Splice ran up the steps to the front door and pounded on it. "Smash! You home!? We got a situation here!" He called out.

The door soon opened to reveal a blue echidna. "What's going on?" He asked with a serious look. "And who are these guys behind you?"

"We'll explain everything. Can we come in?" Smash nodded and stepped aside, letting them all in.

Once inside, everyone got themselves comfortable, exhausted from the trip to get there. Beat then looked to Ciel, motioning for her to begin her explanation.

"To start things off," Smash started. "Who are you two?"

"I'm Beat the Cat. And that's Ciel, the cause of all this mess," he said, more bitterly than he had intended.

Ciel looked down to the ground. "Sorry for all the trouble. I'll explain everything now."

"No need," said a voice that came from nowhere.

Beat immediately got up and entered a fighting stance. "Who's there?"

"Oh, you mean me?" said a grey figure, clad in a white cloak, who suddenly materialized in the center of the room.

Smash stood up immediately. "Haven't you ever heard of a door? Most people use those things to enter a room." He snarked at the figure. "Who are you and what are you doing in here!?"

Ciel jumped up and aimed her finger at the figure. "That's the guy who's responsible for all of this! That's V!"

"V?" Beat asked. "Your parents got lazy naming you?"

"V isn't my real name, not that it matters. I came here to tell you not to get involved with this girl and her problems. Just sit back and let evolution take its course."

"Evolution? What the crap are you talking about?" Smash asked.

"Evolution?" A vein mark formed on the side of his face. "Was it evolution that caused that crazy army to go around shooting whoever got in their way just to capture a single girl!? Was it freaking evolution that caused who knows how many people to die today!?" He yelled at the figure angrily.

"You seem like the kind of person who likes to talk. Maybe I should shut you up before you get on my nerves." V then continued his explanation. "I have already taken over several dimensions. This one is just another step in the evolution of all existence. But the biggest thing standing in my way is her."

"Of course I'm standing in your way! Any person with any sense of right and wrong would!"

"You have been a pain in my side for too long. Just give up and we can end this endless game of tag."

"Conquering dimensions!?" Smash exclaimed. ''You FOOL! Going through dimensions like this so freely, don't you realize what you could do!?'' He thought, angrily. I'm pretty sure this dimension is barely stable as it is from the past few events!

"What are you trying to accomplish, conquering dimensions like this?" Splice asked. "What is this 'evolution' thing you're doing?"

"I'm not going to waste time trying to explain my plans to people who know so little. But I warn you. You do not want to get involved. Many have tried to stop me, and all have failed. So, what is your position?"

"You wanna know what MY position is?" Smash spoke up. "I'm freaking sick and tired of these people who come in thinking they can do whatever the crap they want! And even more-so sick of people who barge, warp, distort time or space or whatever into my HOUSE. My house is not some sort of dang tourist spot! And this dimension ain't your playground! It's already been abused enough as it is! I'm not going to let anyone just simply go around messing with it with their "Ultimate Plan for Evolution" or whatever the crap you're doing."

V just scoffed. "You have no idea how many times I've heard that speech before. What are you going to do? You have no power." He then sighed. "But things have been getting so dull lately. Fine. If you want to help this girl, go ahead. I'll continue playing for a little while longer, but, once the game ends, I will be the undisputed winner."

Beat couldn't take it anymore. He ran up to V and punched him in the face, only to find himself falling on his face. It was simply a projection.

Smash growled. "These people, I swear..." He sat back down, leaning his head on his fist. "As we were saying...?"

"Is there anything else that needs to be said?" Ciel started, "Do you want to let V take over this world?"

"There is more to be said, actually." Smash stated. "You already know where I stand on this situation, so lets not get into that. But what we need is a plan. How do we plan to stop this guy? This isn't like your average villain where we can just waltz right up to his hideout and beat the crap outta him. He's already conquered several other DIMENSIONS. Who's to say he's even still in this dimension? And what about this army thing Splice mentioned?"

"Yeah, he's got this army after you." He said. "Crazy troops, Hulking armored monsters, etc."

"Plus, we can't do this alone." Smash added. "If it's That bad, We gotta come prepared."

"Didn't you hear him?" Ciel continued, "V enjoys games. That's his one weakness. He views everything as some kind of game. Right now, our challenge is to stop him from at least taking over this dimension. Without me, his progress is considerably slowed. If he's able to control this part of the world, then he's already managed to plant his 'mark', meaning he's been in this dimension for at least two years. Luckily he isn't finished planting it, so we can go destroy it."

"Two Years..?" Smash's eyebrows rose. "That's disturbing. That means he's been here before any of the dimensional problems started up at all."

"Anyway, Where is this 'mark'?" Splice asked. "If destroying it is all we need to do, then lets hurry up and do it!" He looked at Ciel, a bit worried. "It's only a matter of time before those troops come over here."

Ciel was withholding some information, and Beat could tell. she thought that they would help her if they didn't know the full story. "I...don't know. But what I do know is that we need to leave this area. V can control this part of the world, so we should get out of here before he does anything. Maybe...the other side of the world?"

"Are you crazy? How are we going to get there? I don't think V will let us take a plane!" Beat said.

"I don't know if he'll let us take a ship, either." Smash added. "But we have to try. I know a guy who'd be more than willing to lend us a ship."

"Okay the," Beat said, "let's go!"

V was back in his citadel, observing the heroes in his monitor. "This might actually be fun," he said, although he kept an emotionless expression on his face.

Smash lead them outside. "We need to head to the docks." He said. "It's all the way on the other side of town."

Strangely, the port was deserted when they arrived there. Even more strange was the fact that the group had no trouble getting there.

"I don't like this." Smash muttered. "Where the heck is everyone?" He looked around, somewhat uneasily.

"Let's begin," V's voice sounded throughout the area.

"Wha-" Smash froze, now on the alert. Splice looked around quickly, trying to figure out where he heard the voice coming from.

Suddenly, a humanoid figure clad in black armor covered in green circuits appeared from a distortion in space in front of the group, firing a barrage of energy bullets.

Beat reflexively created a barrier to shield the group, reflecting the bullets. As soon as the barrier came up, the figure stopped.

Splice and Smash both put their guards up at the same time, but saw that there was no need.

"I have orders to destroy all of you." It said in a robotic yet vaguely life-like voice. "Please surrender and make this easier for yourselves."

"Surrender and let ourselves die a quick death in humiliation of our cowardice?" Smash scoffed. "I don't think so. If you think you can kill us, then just try to!"

"It's you," Ciel said. "Why are you fighting for him after what he did to your home?"

"If you cannot defeat him, the best solution is to join him." Then the figure pulled out a green energy saber and attacked the group.

Splice, acting quickly, managed to dodge the saber and land a blow against the figure's side. He didn't seem to be hurt very badly, though.

"A mere set back," the figure said.

"Who are you?" Beat asked.

"My name is Marz. Now good-bye."

Splice leaped back and held his hands out beside him, seemingly charging up a skill. He then put both of his hands out in front of him and fired numerous icicles at the armored man.

Smash stood by, waiting for the opportune moment to land a blow.

With a flurry of sword slashes, the icicles all fell at Marz's feet, all of them cut in half. His sword then formed into a gun, and he fired several shots of green energy at Splice.

Splice quickly dodged them all without much of a problem. As he was dodging them, Smash quickly came up to his side and attempted to knock the gun out of his hand.

When Smash got close enough, Marz quickly flipped the gun around in his hand, and transformed it back into a blade, attempting to stab Smash with it.

Smash quickly sidestepped the jab, and whirled around to give him a punch to his side.

Splice ran over to join in. He threw a flaming spin kick towards his back.

Marz used his blade to block Splice's kick, while moving to the side ever so slightly to avoid Smash's punch. At that moment, Beat came from above, delivering a spin kick towards his face. Beat's attack caught him by surprise and he was knocked some a few meters backwards by the kick. "Another minor setback," he said, rubbing his helmet-covered head.

Splice and Smash backed up a bit to regroup. "We're gonna have to work together if we wanna beat this guy." Smash said to the group.

Splice held both of his hands out in front of him and shot a long stream of flames at Marz in a flame thrower fashion. Smash once again waited for the opportune moment to strike.

Marz looked up to the sky, and said, "I've stalled them long enough. You can go ahead." Space rippled around his body, and he vanished.

Smash and Splice looked around. "He's gone.." Splice said.

"Stay sharp, everyone." Smash said. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Uh, is anyone seeing this!?" Beat said shakily, pointing right in front of him. The sea and the horizon appeared to be rising, as if folding over the city like a piece of paper, yet the water and everything in it stayed in one place.

Smash looked horrified. "What the crap...!?" He didn't even know what to do, he was stunned.

"I don't know about you, but I think we should get the heck outta here!" Splice cried out.

"HOLY CRAP!!" Ciel shouted, and suddenly everything was enveloped in a bright flash of light.

The characters found themselves hurtling down a colorful tunnel with random streaking lights.

"What the CRAP!? Wha-" Smash was interrupted by his own bewilderment.

"This again.." Splice said quietly.

"Whoa! Ciel what the?"

"I don't know! It just activated!" she replied. "Everyone, try to stick together! If you get separated, we could get scattered across the dimensions!"

"oh lord." Smash flatly said.

However, everyone could feel some force pulling them in several directions. Then another bright flash of light, and everyone was gone, scattered across dimensions.

(Okay everyone, here's where things get weird/cool. Everyone who was in Station Square/ near it got sucked into the rift, and scattered across the cosmos like the others, so new characters can still join.Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 23:28, May 10, 2011 (UTC))

Part 2: New Worlds
(The characters that were in the rift got separated and were sent to different dimensions. Below are the different worlds they were sent to. If you want to add in new characters, follow Banzai's example and pretend they were sucked into the rift as well. You can add in new characters in whatever dimension you like. Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 23:30, May 10, 2011 (UTC))

Blussora
Beat woke up with a massive headache. He grabbed his head, and noticed Splice lying next to him. When he looked around, he noticed that several things were off. Firstly, the sky was bright purple, yet sunny, there were giant vines and flowers all over the place, and he and Splice were lying on a massive leaf, with some kind of fencing made of intertwining vine encircling it.

"What the?" he said, consumed by his confusion.

"Where the heck am I?" said a familiar voice. Beat looked to his right and saw his old friend, Banzai, lying on the leaf, clutching his head.

"What are you doing here!?" Beat jumped up, unsure whether to be happy or worried.

"I was flying here to see what was going on in the city, when...stuff happened."

"uungh..." Splice sat up and rubbed his head. "what happened...?" His eyes slowly widened as he realized where they were. "Wait a minute, where the heck...?" He looked around. "Beat...BANZAI!? What the he-"

"H-Hey! Someone, help!" A female voice cried out. Somewhere near them, a pink echidna with purple hair was tangled up in a heap of vines.

"Hold on!" Banzai said, and tore the vines off the echidna. "Looks like you got wound up in this too."

Tendril rises out of the shadows not far away.

Splice ran over to her.

"T-thanks.." She said. "Wait, I know you. You're Banzai, right?" She asked.

"Pearl, what're you doing here?" Splice asked.

"I dunno...I was on my way back home but these weird things started happening." She explained. "I can't exactly describe it. Then I started flying through the sky and...that's all I can remember."

"That's about the same thing that happened to all of us." Beat said.

"Well, at least we're all together, and there don't seem to be any enemies around," Banzai said.

"Yeah, but, uh, Ciel's our ticket out of here and she's not here," Beat said.

"Great." Splice sulked. "So what do we do now?"

Pearl stood up. "I'm not sure who Ciel is, or what exactly's going on here..." She looked like she wanted to say more, but didn't know what.

"So how are we gonna get back?" Tendril asks.

Tendril had startled Beat and Banzai. "Uh, I dunno. And you are?"

Splice looked over at him. "Did you get caught up in this, too?" He asked

"My name's Shade, but other peoples call me Tendril."

"HALT! RAISE YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR." shouted a loud voice from behind all of them.

Splice leaped into the air, frightened at the loud voice. He landed with his hands in the air. "Don't Shoot! Don't Shoot!!" He cried out. Pearl nearly had a heart attack.

Tendirl turns toward the voice, but does as he's told so as not to start an unnecessary conflict.

Beat was scared out of his wits, and Banzai plaaced his hands on his head as if bombs had gone off. When they turned around, they could see a group short, yet human-like beings, with pale skin and a single plant stalk sticking out of their heads, leaves and all. They all carried strange guns seemingly made of vines.

Splice was sweating bullets. He did NOT want to get shot by one of those weird guns. Pearl held her hands in the air and just prayed that they'd get out safely.

"Who are you, and where did you come from?" One of them asked.

"W-We come in peace!" Splice cried out. "M-my name's Splice..!"

"I am called Tendril," Tendril replies calmly.

"I'm Beat. No wait, that's my name. I don't really feel tired."

"My name's Banzai. Could you please put down those guns? We're just as confused as you are."

"Put down your weapons." A plant-person with foliage like hair and a beard that looked like a green shrub walked up to the group. He was dressed in long red robes that had a vague leaf-like texture to them. Just as he had ordered, the soldiers put down their weapons. The elder one simply looked at them, then back to his soldiers. "Their energy isn't hostile. They truly do come in peace."

Splice let out a sigh of relief, and put his hands down. Pearl held her chest, taking deep breaths.

"Don't relax yet. You're still strangers in this world. Follow me." The elder then walked into the stem of a gigantic flower, with holes meant to be, and the size of windows dotted all over its surface.

Tendril quietly follows the elder.

Splice and Pearl obediently followed the elder. They were soon walking up a spiral staircase inside the flower stalk. "So, what brings you here?" he asked.

"Uh...actually..." Pearl's voice trailed off. She didn't even know.

"Well you see the thing is," Splice began to answer for her. "There's this dimensional menace going around screwing up all the dimensions and whatnot. Lets just say we got thrown over here in an accident because of him." He explained.

"This menace wouldn't happen to be V, would it?"

Pearl looked at them in confusion. She had no idea what they were talking about.

"That's our guy." He said. "I'm guessing he's caused some trouble around here too, huh?"

"He's taken over most of this world. Arolf is one of the few cities he hasn't taken over yet. Sadly, he's going to come after us soon."

"He's also already gotten the part of our world where we live, which made it really difficult to do anything." Splice noted. "What are we supposed to do against a guy like that...?"

"Fight him," the elder said, "even if it seems like a lost cause, we must continue to fight. Even if we do not defeat him, we can at least weaken his forces so the next dimension he goes after will have it easier."

"...You guys are strong." Splice said, softly. "You don't hear that coming from locals very often. It's usually the adventurous, foolhardy individuals that say stuff like that." He looked up. "Of course I'm one of them. That's what our plan was from the beginning. But I think we all got separated, and our "Guide" who could travel between dimensions isn't with us, so we're kinda stuck now. Who knows where they all are?"

"Everyone's separated?" Pearl asked. "Who else was with you?"

"Both Ciel and Smash." Splice said.

"Ciel? She's helping you?" the elder asked. "But I -- never mind. Your friends will get in touch with you soon, so don't worry."

Splice tilted his head to the side. Does he know Ciel? He wondered.

"So..What do we do now?" Pearl asked.

"Well, I can try to contact nearby dimensions to see if your friends have landed there. I can't promise anything but it's worth a try."

Splice nodded. "It's all we've got."

"Okay then, let's --" the elder was cut off mid sentence by a loud explosion. "What was that?"

A soldier walked in. "We're under attack! V's forces have found us!"

"Oh, GREAT." Splice slapped his forehead.

"I guess it'll have to wait, huh?" Pearl asked.

When they reached outside, they could see a massive army of white armored soldiers and beasts heading towards the city off in the distance.

"I dunno about you guys, but I feel like knocking a few of their heads," Banzai said, punching his hand.

"Then why don't we do just that?" Splice grinned.

Pearl cracked her knuckles. "They'll pay for all of this. I'll make sure of it." She said quietly, yet angrily.

Tendril's shadow blades appear on his arms. "I like that idea," he replies.

Tendril's appearance gave Banzai another heart attack. "Will you stop doing that?" he snapped.

"So you're just going to charge and attack them head on? You need a plan first!" The elder advised, but Banzai was already riding his staff to the battlefield.

Splice looked back at him. "How about this? Since some of us have already charged forward, we'll go out and face them head on and distract them, while you gather up the remaining troops and ambush them from behind?" He suggested.

"All right. I know your group is powerful. If you're sure of it, go ahead. We'll see what we can do."

"Yeah!" Tendril says, "This is gonna be fun!" He charges forward, boosted by shadows.

The silver soldiers were marching in several rows, all moving as one large body. Suddenly there was a large explosion in their ranks, causing them to go frantic like ants. Banzai hovered on his staff overhead, his hand still glowing with he blast of energy he just fired. "Three down, about 800 to go," he said.

Beat got into the action as well, appearing in front of several soldiers. As they raised their guns to fire, Beat created a large wall of cyan-blue energy in front of them, and pushed it back, sending several soldiers sprawling backwards.

"Weapon Style: Shadow Blades!" Tendril shouts. Multiple blades of shadows form all over his body. He curls into a ball covered in shadow spikes and rolls straight into the army.

Several shots were fired at Tendril, but they simply bounced off as he rammed into them, sending them flying comically like bowling pins.

Pearl went head on with the troops, fighting with everything she had. She was rapidly knocking out each soldier, one by one.

A large behemoth like creature, covered in silver armor with green circuits, walked up to Tendril. It roared, and then reared itself and attacked.

Tendril uncurls and leaps straight up, aiming to slice the monster's chest open with one of his shin blades.

"Leave the big guy to me!" Splice called out as he ran towards it at an abnormally high speed. He rapidly picked up speed, and suddenly his entire body burst into flames. He lunged at the behemoth's neck, ready to deal a powerful body slam.

The behemoth noticed Splice and Tendril coming from afar, raised its paw and swiped at them with the back of its paw.

Tendril dissolves into shadows and reforms so he can still strike.

Splice just managed to pass right by the paw and continue his course towards it's chest.

The creature took the attack full force, it's armor burnt and damaged by the attack. Banzai then suddenly fell from the sky, and slammed his heavy staff into the creature's head, killing it. "Another one down!" he shouted.

More soldiers continued advancing, and fired several shots at the heroes.

Splice was about to give Banzai a high five, but the soldiers came and began shooting at them. "Heads up! Splice called out. He used the dead behemoth as a shield as he began to create a wall of ice.

Banzai ducked behind the beast's carcass as well. "Got a plan?" he asked Splice.

"Yeah, Kinda." He said. "I'm gonna make a big ol'-"

Tendril doesn't even wait for an answer. He charges at the soldiers, each bullet that hits him goes through him as if he were made entirely of shadows. When he reaches the soldiers, he begins slashing at them with the shadow blades covering him with a strange lust for violence that doesn't seem to be his own.

"That looks like a good enough plan," Beat said sarcastically, and immediately started firing a volley of energy blasts from his hands.

"Something's not right," Banzai said, "these guys are a bit...weak, don't you think?"

"Don't care!" Tendril shouts, quite obviously enjoying himself, "These things couldn't hurt even if they were stronger!" His voice sounds different. A little deeper and slightly more sinister.

Splice blinked, watching them rush out and beat them down by themselves. "...Yeah. They're nothing like the guys in Station Square, I'm sure." His expression turned serious. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

((Please, stop edit conflicting me. :< ~Smash The Echidna~ http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100421224452/sonicfanon/images/0/04/Smash_life.png 22:49, May 31, 2011 (UTC) ))

(sorry, i didn't even know you were on)

"Wait a second," Beat said before flying into the air. From high up in the sky, he could see what he expected to see. He returned to the others. "Uh, guys? They're this weak because they're only the first wave. While I was in the sky, no matter how high I was, I couldn't see the end of them."

"What!?" Banzai shouted in disbelief.

Splice's eyes shrank as Pearl just caught up to them. "Ohh, noo...." He whimpered.

"Now what're we gonna do?" Pearl asked, worried.

"I think we should deal with this weak wave right now, in one big attack, and then deal with the others later, hopefully with the elder's help," Banzai said.

"In that case," Splice began to finish up his ice wall as fast as he could. "About my plan. I was gonna make a wall big and thick enough to block all their attacks, and shove it into them and hopefully smash them against something back there. I just need to make it big enough."

Tendril stops fighting and returns to the others. His shadow blades shatter into pieces, the tiny, jagged shards shooting out at the soldiers.

"One big attack huh," Banzai said, and began building up energy in his hands. "This might drain me for a while, but here goes! FINAL CHAOS BLAST!!" He shouted, extending his arms forward, shooting a massive blast of energy at the oncoming soldiers, destroying scores of them. After the attack, Banzai collapsed and fell to the ground.

"Banzai!" Splice cried out. Pearl rushed to his aid, holding him in her lap. Splice continued to create the ice wall until it was finally large enough to shove the remaining soldiers back. "Alright! Lets do it!" He called out, standing in front of it. He held both of his hands out to his sides, and then swung them horizontally in a slicing motion. He shot two crescent shaped streams of flames at the bottom of the ice, going right through the wall. He then ran into it, and started sliding the wall towards the army, gradually picking up speed until he was running pretty fast.

The soldiers weren't expecting that. They fired futily at the wall of ice, but were eventually pushed back like piles of trash. Men and beasts alike assembled into one big pile as Splice rammed into them with his wall of ice. Beat hovered above the ice wall, riding on a translucent disk of cyan energy. He had created two smaller walls of energy to push back any soldiers Splice missed, and flew at Splice's pace towards the oncoming army.

Splice felt it gradually getting harder to push. He kept pushing as hard as he could to maintain his speed. He looked up at Beat above his head, helping along the way. "Whaddya say we pile up the whole army?" He called out.

"Sure thi --" Beat started, but was cut off when a massive dragon-like creature covered in silver armor knocked him right out of the sky with a powerful swipe.

Splice gasped. "Beat!" He cried out.

Tendril flies up on wings of shadow and catches Beat.

"Thanks man," he said.

In the distance, the dragon bellowed a roar that shook the earth, and began building up energy in its mouth.

"No problem," Tendril replies. He sets Beat down and flies back up to face the dragon. He clutches his left wrist and shadows begin swirling in his left palm.

The dragon fired a large beam of energy from its mouth, directly at the heroes.

Soon, a sphere of purple lightning appears in Tendril's hand, Dark lightning lancing off of it in all directions. He flies directly at the dragon, thrusting the sphere at the beam, splitting it in half. He continues flying directly at the monster with his Dark Lightning ball in hand.

Splice had turned around, now pushing the ice wall with his back as he looked at the dragon. "What on earth...?"

The dragon extended its wings, which were lined with small laser cannons. It then fired a flurry of shots at Tendril.

Realizing that he could not dodge the lasers and maintain the Dark Lightning at the same time, Tendril allows the sphere to disperse. He then dissolves into shadows, allowing the lasers to pass through him. He absorbs as much of the energy from the lasers has he can while they continue firing.

The dragon does not notice and continues firing.

Soon, Tendril has just enough light energy for his most volatile transformation. In a flash of light, his fur lightens in color, becoming gray. He retains his purple streaks, but his eyes change color from red to yellow. He has now entered Twilight Form.

Two other dragons fell from the sky and landed next to the one Tendril was fighting, and appeared to be ready for combat.

Tendril looks at the three dragons, wondering which he should go after first. Finally, he fires three large bolts of Twilight energy at the dragons, one bolt at each. Since the light and shadows in the twilight blasts are trying to repel each other, they will explode on impact.

The dragons shield themselves with their wings, which manage to withstand the blast of the attack.

"Looks like we might have our hands full," Beat said.

Suddenly, a bright green portal opened up in the sky, and several familiar faces fell out of it.

As he tries a few more blasts, Tendril notices the portal opening.

"Took you guys long enough," Beat said with a smile on his face.

Tendril flies over to the newcomers on his shadow wings. He stops when he notices Tsunami with Orochimaru on her shoulders.

Burst landed on his feet, making for quite an epic entrance... until he tripped on his first step, ruining the moment.

Inferna runs over once she lands and helps Burst to his feet. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Burst replied, "...Hey, look! Its Tendril!"

Hearing Burst's voice, Tendril turns. With a smile, he flies down and lands nearby, his shadow wings dissolving afterwards.

Burst extended his hand for Tendril to shake it and said, "Haven't seen you in a bit. How've you been?"

Tendril shakes the hand and replies, "Not bad. How about you?"

"Can't complain," Burst answered, "Inferna's keeping me in check, so that's always good. . ." He stopped himself, just now noticing the three dragons not too far in the distance.

Tendril follows his gaze. "Heh. Wanna help take them down?"

"You know it!" Burst replied with excitement.

"I'll help too." Inferna offers. "Alright," Tendril says, his shadow wings reforming, "Let's go!"

'Mind if I join in?" Beat said, hands glowing with cyan blue energy.

"Not at all," Tendril replies, "We could use a little extra help with these things."

Burst smirked and added, "You know what they say, the more the merrier!"

Pearl and Violet rushed up beside them. "We're in." Pearl said, getting into a battle stance.

Meanwhile, Splice was now struggling to keep pushing the ice wall. He was now going at a moderate, almost slow pace. "This is...nngh..." He pushed with all of his might now. Suddenly, He heard a crack. His eyes widened with shock as little pieces of ice landed across his face. "...Not good." He looked around, trying to figure out what to do from here. It was then when he saw a familiar face coming towards him. "Wait, it can't be..."

"Splice! Get away from that wall!" Smash called out. "The whole thing is gonna collapse!"

Splice did as he was told, and ran away from the wall. Several cracks began to appear on the ice. "Smash, How did you get here?"

"I'll explain later." He said. "There are several hundred more troops back there behind the wall that haven't gotten hit by that thing." He looked over at Splice. "Think we could do some sort of team attack to take them all out?"

Splice's eyebrows rose with interest. "A team attack? Like...?" Smash began to whisper something into his ear, Splice nodded every few seconds as he listened. "..Alright, Let's do it." He said with a confident grin.

Suddenly, the ice chattered, sprinkling everyone with sparkling shower. A massive behemoth had broken the ice wall with its horns and charged towards the group, roaring loud enough to shake the earth. This one was much larger than the others, roughly the size of a small building.

Inferna takes a step back, surprised and frightened by the sudden appearance of the monstrous creature. She touches a hand to the ground, then smiles. "The ground here," she says, "It's full of earth energy. I don't think it will mind much if I borrow some."

Splice and Smash both gasped in shock. "Well, So much for that plan." Splice groaned.

Burst shot his gaze back and forth between the dragons and the behemoth. "So many targets, what do I do?" he said to himself frantically. Suddenly, a voice in his head told him, Why not take both? Immediately, Burst became shrouded in flames, until his body was made entirely of the fire itself. His blazing spines flew behind him as he shot two blasts of fire in each direction.

The behemoth retaliated by firing an even bigger blast of fire in Burst's direction, while the dragons defended themselves with their wings. Beat, seeing the large fire blast coming their way, created a barrier around the group, but was having visible difficulty in blocking the attack.

Inferna begins concentrating on the earth energy in the ground. Tendril flies around behind the creature on his shadow wings, firing Twilight blasts at it to get it's attention and draw it's fire away from the other heroes.

With a strange, new attitude about him, Burst walked casually through the barrier and absorbed the oncoming fire. He continued to walk towards the beast and said to it, "Hmph... pathetic creature."

"Who are you calling pathetic, you insect." The beast stood on its hind legs and eyed the group. The spikes on its back started glowing pure white, then fired several bolts of electricity at Tendril. "My name is Soshiro, and I am the one leading this attack."

"That thing can TALK!?" Smash exclaimed, looking bewildered.

"Let alone lead an entire army such as this?" Splice added.

Tendril holds his hands out in front of him, allowing Nightfall's magnetic powers to shield him from the electricity. Meanwhile, Inferna has disappeared, and in her place is a puddle of lava.

"So you're the one in charge huh?" Beat said to Soshiro, "Then after this V's gonna need a new general." Beat's hands started glowing again.

"I'm not like the others. I won't go down easily." Soshiro folded his arms, and appeared to wait for the others to make the first move.

"Is that so?" Tendril replies, "Well then, let's see if you can handle this!" A large sphere of Twilight energy appears in his hands. "Twilight Bomb!" He hurls the Twilight bomb at Soshiro, holding it together with his light and shadow abilities. As soon as it gets close enough to Soshiro, Tendril would release his hold on the sphere, allowing the swirling light and shadows within to repel each other, pushing away from each other with explosive force.

"Imbecile," Soshiro said as he used his arms to shield himself from the explosion. "That all?"

Tendril, despite his glowing fur having dimmed from his last attack, charges another Twilight Bomb. He hurls it at Soshiro, shouting "Twilight Nova!" This time, instead of simply releasing his hold on the sphere, he helps the light and shadows repel each other, creating a far more massive explosion of light and shadow.

"This one might be some trouble." Soshiro held his hands out towards the explosion. The blast appeared to shrink. Closer inspection revealed that Soshiro was sucking the blast into some sort of vortex in his hands. Once the explosion was completely gone, he folded his arms once more, and eyed Tendril with a bored expression. "Is that all you can do?"

The grey fur of Twilight Tendril has darkened, almost returning to it's ordinary black, while the yellow of his eyes is a reddish orange now. Surprised, he mutters, "Twilight form has no effect?"

"Apparently," Soshiro replied. He picked up his leg, then slammed it into the ground, causing a large earthquake. Suddenly, several spikes made of pure stone erupted from the ground, encompassing the expanse of the area. The spiked even impaled some of Soshiro's own soldiers, yet he seemed unfazed.

((Hooray! (sarcasm) Burst was practically ignored! E-113!  Code name:   Xi  23:03, June 17, 2011 (UTC))

(Sorry about that lol Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 23:07, June 17, 2011 (UTC))

Burst looked back an forth at the destruction that Soshiro had caused, and chuckled. "'Is that all'?" he repeated, "I should be asking you the very same question." As this point, he had decided to ignore the dragons completely, and focus his efforts on Soshiro. "You may has easily defended against his assault, but you have yet to see a mere fraction of my power." Flames now swirling around him, this new Burst summoned pillars of flame from beneath the stone spike, destroying some and damaging others.One larger pillar then erected beneath Soshiro. "Burn, scum of V's army!" Burst shouted.

Soshiro took a deep breath, and inhaled Burst's flames. Once he was done he exhaled a large puff of smoke. "You actually thought that would work?" He then opened his mouth wide, and fired a huge blast of electricity at Burst.

Unenthusiastically, Burst shot to the left to dodge the electricity. "No," he replied, "I am surprised, but not because you absorbed my flames. I'm surprised because you actually fell for that." With a snap of his fingers, Burst commanded the fire within Soshiro to erupt in a violent explosion.

Five seconds passed. Ten seconds passed. Soshiro stood before Burst, apparently waiting for something to happen. "I'm sorry, but was something supposed to happen?" he asked.

While Burst and the others fought Soshiro, Beat was analyzing the beast. As soon as he appeared, the other soldiers stopped to look at the fight. Even the dragons halted their assault. Beat noticed Soshiro suck Burst's flames into his palms with ease, and noted how he inhaled the flames easily as well. Burst's last attack most likely failed for some reason, and Beat knew it had to be some special power of Soshiro's.

Burst had no reaction to the nonexistant explosion. He simply sighed and said, "You'll have you dues. Just not now. Now... I'm through with you." With that, Burst returned to normal. He looked down at himself with disappointment and cussed under his breath, as if it wasn't his decision to change back.

"I admit I'm not as strong as Marz or Lucian, but I recommend you all leave before you get caught up in this mess. This world is doomed to fall to V. You should return home and wait till it's your time."

"Tch. It's because of you we're all here in the first place." Smash growled. ''This thing's really tough. All those attacks had no effect. ''He thought. ''Maybe we should go for more physical attacks? Though judging by what he is, that would be really tough.'' "Guys, we need to work together if we're gonna win this one." Smash reminded them all. "He's tough. Real tough. But he must have a weakness. With our combined strengths, we can over throw this beast."

By this time, Pearl, Violet and Gizmo had caught up to the group. "What on earth is THAT!?" Violet gasped. "It's another one of those beasts!" Pearl exclaimed. "He looks even stronger!"

Smash whirled around at the sound of her voice. "Pearl!? How the--You were here all this time..!?" He exclaimed in shock. "Are you alright?"

"Just fine." She said, focusing on Soshiro. Smash returned his gaze to the behemoth as well.

In response to Soshiro's last comment, Tendril says, "Tsunami, Inferna and I have no choice but to win. If V's taking over dimensions, then he'll eventually reach the Shadow Realm, Water Realm, and Fire Realm. And we cannot let our kingdoms fall to the likes of him."

"Men, continue on to the capital," Soshiro said to his troops, "I"ll take care of these pests." He spread his arms, and entered a fighting stance. "It's time I showed you what I can really do." He stomped the earth again, causing another large earthquake. Two massive hands made of pure rock erupted out of the ground on either side of the group "Stone Crusher!" Soshiro yelled, causing the hands to run into each other at high speed. If they did not escape in time, they would be crushed.

Tsunami simply disappears while Tendril flies up as high as he can on his shadow wings.

"Can you guys hear me?" Ciel's voice rang inside the heads of the heroes. "I formed a link with you guys before you left, so I can feed you info on the bad guys if you like."

"That'd be great," Beat thought back, unsure whether Ciel could hear him.

Burst got back up and narrowly avoided the stone hands with a spindash. He looked back to Smash and asked, "What did you have in mind?"

Smash and his group followed Burst to safety. "Not entirely sure just yet. We need to overwhelm him, That much I'm sure of. He can easily block and counter one of our attacks. So we should try to beat down on him together from all sides so he won't be able to shake us all off. Of course, though, these types of guys are likely to have some sort of barrier bouncing technique to get everyone off, but that's all I got at the moment..." ''Yeah, Ciel. I can hear you loud and clear.'' He thought. ''Not sure if you can hear me, but we're really gonna need some info on this guy. Any kind of weaknesses we should aim for?''

"First off, who're you fighting against right now?" Ciel asked.

"From what I can tell," Beat said, "he can use several elemental attacks: fire, lightning, earth, and he has some kind of black hole vortex attack that can suck up other attacks."

That sounds a lot like Soshiro, Ciel said, ''From the data we have on him, he is one of V's generals and is indeed an elemental user, but there's a lot we don't know. What we do know is that, in addition to his powers his brute strength is immense. Avoid physical attacks at all costs. For a weakness, try using his size against him? Sorry, I don't know.''

''Well that totally shoots down my idea. ''Smash thought back. ''Thanks for the warning. As for using his size against him...Hmm..''.

Burst hopped atop one of Soshiro's pillars and scouted around. With Inferna no where to be seen, he grew worried and thought to Ciel, This might not be the best time, but do you have any idea where Inferna went?

The ground begins to shake. Soon, a thick stone pillar rises from the ground, aiming to slam Soshiro in the head.

"That won't work," Soshiro said, and redirected the pillar in the direction of the heroes.

The pillar explodes before it hits them, releasing a ball of fire that flies straight for Soshiro. There seems to be a red, glowing being in the core of the fireball.

Soshiro's cheeks swelled, and then he expelled a massive torrent of ice cold water, which swallowed up the fireball and anyone in range.

Smash quickly put his Aqua gloves back on, though he only had time to put one on, and thrust his palm forward. The water began to part, and passed by him and most of those near him on either sides.

Beat immediately floated into the air on a disk of energy, carrying anyone who he thought couldn't avoid it.

With excitement, Burst looked down at the red light. He knew immediately what had just occurred and shouted, "Way to go Inferna!"

The flames of the fireball are extinguished by the water, but the being at it's core persists in flying straight through it, keeping her eyes locked on Soshiro.

Splice looked up at Inferna, charging straight towards Soshiro. "Guys, we should back her up." He said, sounding worried "Ciel said to avoid physical attacks at all costs..."

Tendril nods. "I agree. Let's see if we can take him down all at once." He flies for Soshiro's chest, summoning his Shadow Blades as he gets close.

Burst leaped high into the air as his spines became coated in metal. "Right!" he called out with confidence.

Soshiro then took his massive hand and attempted to swat Tendril out of the sky.

Tendril dissolves into shadows, allowing Soshiro's hand to pass right through him. Released from the jet of water, Inferna is now visible, still flying straight at Soshiro. Her fur has changed color again, her red fur became a glowing red-orange and her streaks had dimmed to black.

From the air, Burst shot forward in a homing attack aimed at the back of Soshiro's neck, making sure not to ignite himself.

Pearl, Violet and Gizmo were all on Beat's disk, looking down at Soshiro. "Beat, Get closer." Pearl asked. "I'm gonna strike his head."

"Careful, Pearl." Violet warned. "I'll back you up."

"I'll stay on the disk and shoot from above." Gizmo said, twirling his new blaster from out of his pocket. With a click of the gun, he set his sights on Soshiro, aiming for his eyes. He held his fire, though.

Down on the ground, Smash watched their near futile attempts to best the monster. But seeing Inferna charge at him head on, he had a feeling there might be a chance. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall...right?" He looked at Splice. "Splice, Have you mastered the Spindash?"

"Eh, Well, Depends on what you mean by 'mastering' it." He shrugged. "I might be able to pull off what you have in mind, though."

"So you already know, hm?" He smirked. "Alright, Charge it up as much as you can. I'm gonna hurl you at his face to back up Inferna. And though fire powers aren't effective, Try to use some fire to give you a boost of speed."

"Got it!" Splice made a small hop in the air and began to charge up a spindash.

"So many attacks from so many directions. Too bad they're all useless." He jumped high into the air,dodging most of the attacks. From the sky, he extended both hands towards the ground. "Try this." Suddenly, a powerful blast of air, strong enough to destroy a building, hit everyone below Soshiro.

Tendril dissolves into shadows, allowing the blast to pass through him. Waves of psychic energy shield Inferna from the blast.

Smash crouched down and held his ground, trying to bear against the force of the wind. Splice was getting blown away, but he managed to keep from going too far.

"Fine then. If I can't blow you away..." A large swirling vortex opens up in Soshiro's hands, sucking everything into it with great force. Nearby trees and rocks were pulled out of the ground and into the vortex in the air.

Burst was hit directly by the blast of wind. He shot to the ground and landed hard. At that point he stopped moving, leaving him defenseless against the vortex.

Beat managed to create a large cyan blade of solid energy and dig it deep into the earth when lifted by the vortex. He held on to it for dear life, and managed to catch Banzai's unconcious body in an energy bubble when it was being sucked in.

"So much for that plan." Pearl groaned. She looked up at the vortex, then turned around and tried to give Beat support, as did Gizmo and Violet.

Inferna catches Burst and holds herself and him to the ground with the same psychic force as before.

Splice shot forward in a spindash, and quickly turned around and headed the opposite direction. Smash tried his best to hang onto the ground, but it was looking bad for him. He looked up towards Banzai inside the energy bubble. "Beeaaat!? A little help over here!?" He called out.

"Let's see how long you can hang on!" Soshiro increased the force of the vortex.

Beat concentrated most of his energy on keeping the blade lodged into the earth.

Rocks come up out of the ground and seal Inferna and Burst in a strong, earthen barrier. The two can only breathe because Inferna kept a few small holes open so air can get in.

Smash crawled towards the earth barrier very slowly. His legs were lifting off the ground, and he was just barely hanging onto the earth below him. He gasped when the stone shield shattered as Soshiro's gigantic fist burst through it, crushing Inferna and Burst if they did not avoid it.

By the time Soshiro's fist meets the ground, Inferna and Burst had already vanished, as if they had never been there in the first place.

"Running away? How cowardly." The vortex was still up in the sky, sucking in anything not touching the ground and sending them who knows where.

Nearby, Beat had attached Banzai to the ground using some kind of thread made of energy. He had wrapped these same blue energy threads around his body, attaching him to the ground. He now slowly and carefully made his way towards Soshiro.

Smash was just starting to fly from the ground, when something grabbed his arm. He looked to see Splice holding him down, and freezing himself to the ground in the process. "Hang on, Smash!"

"YOU hang on! If you lose your footing that's it for both of us!" He yelled back.

"This has been going on for far too long. I promised lord V that I wouldn't destroy the area, but I think he'll let this slide." Soshiro began charging a large ball of energy in his hands, which grew and grew until it was as big as he was.

"That doesn't look good," Beat said. With the vortex preventing him from moving much, and considering his present state, there was no way he could stop it.

"ohh crap." Smash said flatly as he saw the energy ball growing in Soshiro's hands.

Suddenly, in a flash of light, the ball of energy was cut in two. Behind Soshiro now stood a midnight-blue wolf, wearing a black cloak and a conical straw hat. He held a sunset-orange samurai sword in his hand, and his expression was blank.

"What?" Soshiro was startled by the swordsman's sudden appearance. He quickly gathered his composure again and faced his new enemy. "And who might you be?"

The wolf turned to face the large behemoth and said, "My identity is none of your concern. Know that I am against Lord V and his army," He then looked towards the heroes and stared. He said nothing to them, and just stared. After a moment he looked back to Soshiro and spun his sword so that he now held it hilt-up.

Smash and Splice looked over at him, Splice still straining to hold onto the ground and Smash at the same time. "Who's that..?" Splice asked.

"Better question is how the heck is he not effected by that vortex!" Smash exclaimed, still worried that they might not last.

The wolf brushed his coat back slightly, revealing neon-green boots. The soles rippled with an invisible force, but it was clear enough to see that they held him to the ground.

"I've just about had it with you people." Soshiro said. "You may have slightly inconvenienced me by destroying my blast, but you're just plain stupid if you think you can win." Even from afar, Soshiro towered over the heroes.

A crack opens up behind the other heroes. Inferna crawls out, bringing Burst's unconscious body with her.

The vortex in the sky closes up. Soshiro apparently has no more need for it. Beat walks over to the other heroes, along with the now conscious Banzai. Soshiro eyed all the fighters with a worried expression. "Maybe I'm stupid for thinking I can win. I'll leave for now, but be warned: soon you'll be up against much worse than me." A large vortex appeared behind him, and he stepped into it, closing it behind him.

"I think we won," Banzai said.

Tsunami appears nearby with Orochimaru draped across her shoulders. Orochimaru speaks up, "It won't matter if the next one is stronger. Aquella and I haven't done a thing in this battle."

"Well you two are a bit late," Beat said, "besides, if what he said is true, I'm not sure how much of a chance we stand."

"What do you mean? We beat this guy didn't we?" Banzai said.

"Well, true, but what about the others? Look how long it took to beat this guy, and who knows how strong the others are?"

"No, We didn't "Beat" him." Smash said as he and his group caught up to the others. "He LEFT. The only thing we managed to do was survive. Had we beaten him I don't think we'd have let him live. Our next encounter with him will not be as easy, despite how hard it was. We must be ready for absolutely anything next time."

"Guys," Ciel's voice rang through their heads. "I'm going to transport you back to HQ. V's army is fleeing the area, and the denizens of this world managed to defend their city. There's no need to stay there now."

Smash looked up. "Got it." He said.

"Yeah, let's go," Beat said.

(On to Part 3)

Wevahaet
Smash and Ciel found themselves lying in sand, only it didn't feel like sand. It felt softer, yet hard at the same time. And it was dull blue. The first thing that hit them about this strange new world was the heat. It was like a furnace. The intense heat may have been because of the three suns hovering in the red sky. Off in the distance, several dome shaped buildings could be seen, apparently forming a small town.

"Oh, great. Where are we NOW?" Smash groaned as he stood up. "And it's freaking HOT out here!" He looked around. "Is everyone present and accounted for?" He asked. "Ciel..Beat........Violet?" He looked at a purple hedgehog passed out on the ground near them. "What on earth...?" He ran over to her and knelt down beside her. "Hey! Violet! Are you alright?"

A red and orange hedgehog sits up nearby. She slowly stands up, taking in the sight of this new world.

A green hedgehog was walking around with a paper with strange drawings on them. "What does this mean?!" He yelled.

"Uh oh. Looks like the rift I created sucked in some other people. My bad," Ciel said, apologetically, looking to the ground.

"No worries," the red hedgehog replies, "We'll get back somehow."

"Well I don't know. That whole fiasco took a lot of energy out of me. I don't know if I can create another one. What I DO know is the other dimensions that rift was linked to. The others got sent to Blussora and Levarious." Ciel said.

Smash looked back at Ciel. "So we're split up then?" He asked. "Great. It's gonna be a while before we get back to Mobius..." He looked down at Violet, who was still unconscious, and lifted her up into his arms. "We gotta get out of this heat. We're all gonna roast if we stay out here!"

The red hedgehog walks over to Ciel and holds out a hand. "Name's Pyra. But I prefer to go by Inferna."

"Hi Inferna. And uh, what are you talking about," Ciel said, looking at the green hedgehog.

The green hedgehog looked at the paper again. "So if I come here, I cold go there." he said.

"Hello?" Ciel spoke to the green hedgehog again.

The green hegdehog looked at Ciel. "Yes?" he answered.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Trying to figure out how to get out of here and trying to figure out how I got here in the first place." he answered.

Off in the distance, a figure approached, masked by the sunlight. His voice could be heard faintly, calling out to nothingness. "Inferna? Inferna, you here?" As he drew closer to the group, his appearance became visible. His fur was yellow, and his spines were short. He was Burst Pyrite. "Hey... there's people over there," he said to himself, "Inferna?! You over there?"

Inferna turns to the figure. Seeing who it is, she calls out, "Burst!" and runs over to him.

Burst broke into a run as well, embracing Inferna as they met. "There you are! I've been walking for what feels like forever. I wasn't sure if I'd find you again. Any idea where we are?"

"Not a clue," she replies.

"Bummer," Burst sighed, "At least the weather's nice. Who're your friends?"

"I just met them, actually," Inferna answers.

Burst walked towards the others and said to Inferna, "That makes two of us, I guess." He then squinted a bit to make out their figures, and noticed a familiar face. "Hey... aren't you Smash the Echidna?"

Smash turned to look over at Burst. "Yeah, that'd be me." He answered. "And you're...Burst, if I recall correctly?"

The ground suddenly began to shake violently beneath them.

"Th-th-th-that's my name," Burst replied, trying to keep his balance, "W-w-w-we'll talk later."

Smash fell to a kneeling position from the sudden quake. "C-Crap! W-What's going on here!?" He exclaimed, trying to keep himself from falling over completely.

Inferna leans on Burst in an attempt to keep her balance.

"Why does this seem familiar?" Ciel asked herself. Then it hit her. "Oh crap! We need to get out of --"

But before she could say anything else, a huge worm-like creature with four rows of spikes along its body burst out of the ground.

Inferna stares up at the creature, more in shock than fear.

Smash gasped and looked up at it. "What the heck is that, some kind of sand worm!?"

Burst defensively stepped in front of Inferna. Walking the line between bravery and insanity, he called up to the beast, "Hey ugly! What's the big idea? Didn't you mother ever tell you not to interrupt people's conversations?"

"What the CRAP do you think you're DOI-"

"BURST!!" Ciel shouted, interrupting Smash. "Jump outta the way! QUICK!" As soon as she finished warning him, the worm fired a large energy blast from its mouth, directly at Burst.

Half-expecting that reply, Burst turned, picked up Inferna, and used a blast of fire to propel them out of the attack's range. He then set Inferna down, and went to attack the beast with a flaming spindash.

"Be careful!" Ciel shouted. The worm retaliated by burrowing underground.

Burst uncurled in the air and landed firmly on the ground. He looked back and forth at the sand-like surface they stood on, waiting for the creature to reappear. "What's the matter, scared?" he taunted.

"It's going to attack," Ciel said, "keep your guard up."

Suddenly, Burst felt a sinking feeling below his feet.

"Oh this is not good," Burst said to himself, "Not at all."

Soon, Burst found himself standing in the center of a circle of sinking sand with the diameter of a large bed, fenced by rows of sharp teeth.

"NO!!" Inferna cries. She rockets forward, pushed by a blast of flame, in an attempt to get Burst away from the creature's jaws.

The creature then emerged from the ground, trapping Inferna in its jaws.

Burst fell back from Inferna's endeavor, landing on the sand next to the beast. "INFERNA!!!" he shouted in anger, shock, and sorrow collectively. In a rage he burst into flames, his fur and flesh becoming coated in metal. He jumped up after the creature, aiming to save Inferna and tear it apart in one fell swoop.

By this time, Smash had put Violet down a safe distance away and ran back towards them. He threw what was known to be his strongest punch at the worm's stomach, which was normally strong enough to crack a person's skull.

(Do worms have a stomach? Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 01:06, May 13, 2011 (UTC))

((*shrugs* I just meant the part of it below it's mouth that was closest to the ground. We could call it a really long neck, but...~Smash The Echidna~ http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100421224452/sonicfanon/images/0/04/Smash_life.png 01:12, May 13, 2011 (UTC) ))

With the combination of Smash and Burst's attacks, the worm was blown to pieces. Bits of it fell all over the ground. One piece of it appeared to be moving, something lodged under it.

Inferna sits up. "Ugh. Thanks."

The fire surrounding Burst went off, and the metal receded. He looked as if he had no idea what just happened. "Don't mention it... I'm just happy you're safe."

Smash brushed his hand off. "Lets just get the heck outta here before another one comes." He said. "There's some kind of town over there. Lets at least go there for now."

"That sounds like a good idea," Ciel said, "considering the fact that those things hunt in groups."

"All the more reason to hurry." Smash groaned as he was already lifting Violet back up. "I'd hate to see a whole colony."

The group then headed towards the strange looking town.

{C}{C}{C All the buildings were shaped like metal igloos, and strange, reptilian creatures inhabited the town. The group stuck by close together, trying to ignore the glares cast at them by the natives.

Burst walked with his head down. He never liked attention, and the many staring citizens were making him quite uncomfortable.

A few of them, maybe ten, started to encircle them. Something flashed under one of their coats.

Violet stirred in Smash's arms. She was slowly regaining consciousness. Smash was hardly paying any attention to her, not with the locals all giving them the evil eye. He was beginning to wonder if it was safer here or out there. But he immediately noticed the object flash under one person's coat. Oh crap, is that a gun? He thought.

Then the group of locals stopped, completely encircling the visitors. Suddenly, one of them had a gun in their hand, pointed directly at Smash. "Who are you?"

"Uh, can you put down the gun?" Ciel asked.

Smash held his hand up in front of the gun, now holding Violet over his shoulder. "Put the gun down." He said. "We don't want any unnecessary commotion."

"And we don't like having strange folk walking around town. Now I ask again, who are you!?"

"Put the gun down," another, raptor-like local said, walking up to the group and forcing the other reptile to lower his gun. "My apologies. We're currently at war and people's nerves are on edge."

The other local sneered at the group. "You never answered my question. Who are you guys?"

"Calm down." Smash told him. "My name is Smash The Echidna. My friends and I need a place to stay for at least one day. We'll keep outta your hair if it makes you feel any better, we just need to let our friends here rest and stay out of the scorching heat."

"All right," said the raptor, "you can stay with me...if you can best me in a one-on-one fight."

Smash gave him a serious look. "I guess seeing unconscious people doesn't move you one bit, huh?" He set Violet down. "Watch her for me. I'll take care of this myself." He said to any one of the people in his group.

"I'm curious as to the extent of your abilities. My name is Kleft." The raptor got into a fighting stance.

"These guys respect fighters," Ciel said, "if they want to know how strong you are they'll fight you."

Kleft then motioned to Smash with his index finger. "Bring it."

Smash stared at him for a few seconds. He suddenly bolted towards him very quickly, and threw a powerful punch aiming to pierce through his guard. If he caught the punch, It would still hurt a lot. He held his free hand close by to follow up with another move.

Kleft turned twisted his body to avoid the punch and, as Smash's fist passed in front of him, he grabbed it, lifted Smash over his shoulder and tossed him to the ground judo style.

With his free hand, he grabbed Kleft's wrist as he was hurled over his head. He planted his feet hard on the ground behind him, and hurled him over his shoulder in an attempt to throw him a few feet away.

"Enough of this leap-frog," Kleft said, extending his claws and digging them into Smash's arm. He did the same as Smash, landing perfectly on his feet, only he, with surprising strength, swung Smash in a complete circle before tossing him like some giant blue Frisbee.

Smash flew away a few feet, but he stomped his feet towards the ground, allowing him to land sooner. He landed in a kneeling position, and stayed there for a couple of moments before standing up. He was actually a bit dizzy, and was trying to snap out of it before returning to battle. "Hm. Not too shabby." He said. "I'll have to actually put some effort into it this time." This time, he motioned for Kleft to come and make a move.

Kleft jumped high into the air, did several somersaults, and brought his heel down to Smash's head with great force.

Smash threw himself down onto his back, putting both of his feet into the air to block his kick. He sprung back up, attempting to throw him off balance in the air while landing on his feet. He used both of his hands in mid-air to try and slam against him.

Landing in a handstand, Kleft bent his knees and kicked Smash into the air. He then did a small flip backwards, landing on his feet, and waited for Smash's next move.

Smash flipped into the air and then landed in a kneeling position. He didn't seem very hurt, as he stood right back up, flicking his thumb past his nose. "Not bad."

Suddenly, the ground erupted and a large crack appeared between Smash and Kleft, and it kept growing wider and wider, until a silver behemoth creature with glowing green circuits on its body emerged from the ground, about the size of a small building.

"What the CRAP!?" Smash exclaimed.

"What in blazes!?" Kleft shouted, then turned to his comrades. "Get the troops! They're here!"

Burst took a fighting stance at sight of the beast. "Now we're talking! Let's do this!" he shouted to the others.

Smash looked at Burst, then at the beast. "Wait a minute. "They"..? Are these the things they're at war with?" He examined the beast a little closer.

The beast heard his voice, opened its mouth and fired a large ball of green plasma energy at Burst.

"Woah!" Burst called out as he jumped out of the way of the attack. Propelled by a burst of flame, he launched himself above the creature and dealt an axe kick to its head.

Smash dodge rolled out of the way of the blast, as it striking the ground next to him would have hurt.

Inferna blasts herself up on her own flames, flying toward the creature, ax in hand.

The creature's armor was hard, and withstood Bursts kick easily, leaving only a small dent. Meanwhile it fired another blast of plasma at Inferna.

Burst fell to the ground, his leg in pain. He landed hard on his backside, but got up quickly, only to see the blast of plasma heading for Inferna.

Smash looked at the creature closely. "...Waaait a minute." He slit his eyes at it. ''These things definitely aren't from around here. This could only mean that V is behind this!'' He thought.

"Weapon Style: Flame Ax!" Inferna yells. She swings her ax at the blast, sending a thin wave of flame out of the blade and slicing the plasma blast in half. She continues flying at the behemoth between the two halves.

Glad to see Inferna safe, Burst continued his assault with a spindash towards the beast's stomach.

The beast then reared its head, and charged towards Inferna and Burst.

Burst bounced of its solid armor once more, and flew far from the force of its charge. He skidded across the ground, and stood with an annoyed look on his face. His arms became coated in metal as jets of flame spiraled around them.

Inferna dodges to the side to avoid the beast. She lets herself fall, landing lightly on the ground. She kneels and touches one hand to the sand.

After leaping into the air, Burst shot two cyclones of fire at the behemoth.

When the flames disappeared, the creature's armor was scorched and weakened. It then fired another plasma blast at Burst while he was still in the air.

Burst curled into a ball and coated his spines in metal, shielding himself from the blast. He landed on his feet, still damaged, but mostly okay. "Heh, I've got you now," he said to himself.

Smash had disappeared from the crowd, no where to be seen. While the others were fending off the beast, He had taken Violet away to safety, and began to climb a building next to them. Once he had reached the top, he looked down at the beast fighting the others and coiled up his legs. "Wait for the right moment..." He said to himself, as he focused his energy within him.

The sound of gunfire could be heard from the sky. More of V's soldiers were flying overhead, using jets, and raining energy bullets on the town. More gunfire shot from the ground as well as the natives of the world defended themselves against V's attack.

Smash growled. "They're all over the place..." He muttered to himself. He focused on gathering up his energy while waiting for the right moment to strike. The behemoth didn't appear to be looking at him. Now was his chance. He leaped up into the air, letting out a burst of energy as he transformed into his High Tension state, and came down upon the Behemoth's back, throwing what was known to be his strongest punch, "Skull Cracker". With the armor weakened, his fist would probably break through.

Smash was rewarded with loud cracking sounds as the monster's armor tore apart and the creature fell to the ground, defeated. However, more humanoid soldiers appeared in the town and started firing at the inhabitants.

Smash back-flipped off the monster's back and turned to face the troops. "One down, "Who knows how many" left to go!" He said, getting ready to beat the crap out of them.

Inferna stands up again, she seems confused.

"You said it Smash!" Burst replied as he got ready to join his comrade. "You ready for round two?" he proceeded to ask Inferna.

"Let's do it!" Inferna replies, trying to forget her confusion.

"FOOLS!" A voice shouted from atop the damaged behemoth. His entire body was covered in light silver armor, except for his head, which revealed a wolf-like face with long black hair. "You thought things would be that easy?"

Smash whirled around to see the figure on top of the behemoth. "Tch. Who the heck said anything about EASY?"

Burst stood tall and cracked his knuckles. "Tough or not, fun is fun. Am I right?" he said with confidence.

"Ah, Miss Ciel, there you are! Once I take care of your friends, your coming with me!"

Ciel started backing away shyly. "I'm not going anywhere Lucian."

Inferna glances over at Burst. "Cover me," she whispers, "I'm going to try something, but it may take a while."

"No one here is going anywhere." Smash said, sternly. "Unless of course, it's you who's going."

"Do it to it," Burst whispered to Inferna, "I've got your back."

"Hahahaha! You think you can beat me? Come on then, lets fight while my troops take care of the town's inhabitants!"

The air around Inferna begins to thicken and even glow faintly as it's energy is drawn into her.

"Must you always be this hot-headed?" said a voice coming from Lucian's wrist.

"Lord V! Forgive me, I merely want to see the limits of their abilities."

"Fine. Just report back when you're done," said V.

Smoke begins to billow from Inferna, though she doesn't seem to notice.

After finishing his conversation, Lucian pointed his right index finger at the group, and, suddenly, a powerful yet small laser beam shoots out of it.

Smash dodged it with ease, making sure he was away from the spot it struck in case it caused a small explosion.

Lucian swung his finger, the beam acting like an extra long energy blade that sliced through the ground and a few locals like it was nothing, and tried to hit the others with the beam.

Smash cartwheeled over the laser, but then turned around to see other people getting hit and killed by it. He turned back, growling at Lucian. ''We need to figure out how to get close to this guy. With attacks like that, he's not easily approachable. Not to mention he's got the higher ground. ''He thought.

The smokescreen billowing from Inferna has thickened by now.

As Burst jumped back and forth to avoid the beam, a soldier came down from atop a nearby building and attempted to strike him with a blade of energy. Burst narrowly avoided the attack and slid backwards, taking a defensive stance. "Perhaps you could use some backup, sir," the soldier said to Lucian, "I will keep this one busy, allowing you to focus on the bigger threats." Burst merely scowled at that statement, and set his entire body ablaze.

"Do as you please, just try not to get in the way," Lucian said.

Smash took notice of the smokescreen coming from Inferna. I hope she knows what she's doing. He thought as he turned his attention back to Lucian. An idea suddenly came to mind. He took off his current gloves, letting them drop to the ground. In place of them, he fitted a pair of blue striped gloves. Alright, if I can knock him off of that..THING, It should be easier to approach him. He thought. He thrust his palm forward as a huge burst of water gushed out of his arm towards Lucian. He thrust his other palm repeating the attack, hoping to knock him down.

Lucian jumped high into the air, and hovered in midair. "Time to --" he was cut off by a beeping noise coming from his wrist. "Yes?"

"Do what I asked you to do. Now."

"...Alright Lord V." Lucian then flew off into the distance. "I'm leaving this in your hands. Don't fail me!" he said to the soldier who came to assist him.

"As you command," the soldier replied. In one swift motion, he drew a gun from its holster and shot a laser high into the air before shouting, "Troops, on my position! These ones are not to be taken lightly!" Following the shot, several more soldiers came to join the battle, surrounding the heroes.

Smash looked around at all the soldiers surrounding them. "The situation is dangerous." He said to his allies. "If we want to get out of here alive, we'll need to work together."

"Right!" Burst replied, "Even if things get tough, I've got an ace up my sleeve just in case. I only hope he cooperates." At that moment, the head soldier pistol-whipped Burst to the ground while his guard was down. "Enough talk," he scowled, "Now is the time for battle. Troops, attack! Don't let them get the better of you!" By his command, the soldiers charged at the heroes, guns drawn and swords raised.

The smoke surrounding Inferna dissipates. Her fur has changed color to dark gray and her streaks are now white. Her normally yellow irises have changed to purple. She runs over to Burst. "Are you alright."

Burst climbed up to his feet and replied, "Yeah, just caught me off guard," he then faced the soldier and said, "I'm not gonna let you off easy for that one, buddy!" The soldier then leaped over him saying, "You are none of my concern, boy." He landed next Smash and continued, "You are far more of an important matter I must attend to." At first, Burst felt appalled by the soldier's gesture, but he soon forgot that and asked Inferna, "What happened to you?"

The very moment the soldier landed next to Smash, he backhand punched him in the face, without even looking to see who it was. He then thrust both of his hands forward, shooting another burst of water at the troops in front of them.

The soldier raised his arm to block the punch, and retaliated with a horizontal slash from his sword.

Feeling that he blocked it, Smash took one of his hands away from his frontal attack and used it to blast the soldier behind him with water.

The rush of water knocked the soldier backward slightly, throwing off his slash. He tried the same tactic again, this time with a backhanded, vertical slash.

This time, Smash whirled around to face him. Luck had it that he just managed to dodge the attack by chance. He quickly threw a hard punch towards his gut, aiming to hit him before he could put his guard up.

The punch collided with the soldier's armor, leaving a noticeable dent, but left him virtually unscathed. With a chuckle, he replied by throwing a left hook to Smash's head.

Smash swung his arm to deflect the left hook, and then threw another punch towards his gut. This time he put much more strength behind it, as it would probably hurt him if he tried to guard it.

This time, the punch sent the soldier sprawling backwards. However, before he could deal another blow, Smash was shot at from behind by another soldier in the distance.

In response to Burst's question, Inferna says, "Like it? This is my Smoke Form. This is what I was planning that took so long to activate."

Smash was just about to deal another blow, before the energy bullet pierced his shoulder. Luckily it didn't immobilize his whole arm. He kept himself from crying out, and went on with the fight the best he could. He turned around and shot another burst of water towards whoever shot him.

The soldier was knocked down by the water, but Smash's distraction gave his initial opponent a chance to kick him in the back (Should I name him, to make things easier?). Meanwhile, Burst replied, "Sweet. That should help." It was then that he truly noticed all of the surrounding soldiers.

((If you want. I wasn't sure how long he was gonna stay alive, though.))

Smash fell down to his side, but then spun around in a 360 sweep kick to take him down with him, along with any other nearby soldiers.

As was intended, the soldier was brought down, but he attempted to elbow Smash in the side on his way down.

With his spinning around, the soldier missed him. Smash swung himself back up to his feet in a stylish fashion. He clenched both fists together and attempted to crush the soldier's chest and break his armor.

The soldier pushed himself backwards to avoid the strike, then got up on his hands and tried to kick Smash down with both legs.

Smash quickly brought both of his fists back up, attempting to both block and counter the attack at the same time.

Still balanced by his own hands, the soldier pushed off of Smash's hands with his legs and back-flipped back up to his feet. He immediately followed up with a shot from his own gun.

Smash took a step back and stood up straight as he flipped back to his feet. The moment he saw the gun come into view, he threw himself to the side in order to keep away.

The soldier continued his assault, firing about two shots per second as he followed Smash with his gun.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Kleft reappeared on the scene, and jumped between the soldier and Smash. The energy bullets from the gun didn't appear to affect his tough, scaly skin as he ran towards the soldier and dealt him a powerful lariat, throwing him to the ground.

Not expecting the sneak attack, the soldier took its full force and fell backwards. Coming to his aid, three more approached and surrounded Smash and Kleft, holding the two of them at gunpoint.

Inferna unleashes three blasts of toxic smoke, each aimed at one of the soldiers.

The soldiers collapsed, and the one on the ground slowly rose back to his feet. He looked around, seeing that his other comrades were occupied, he dropped his weapons and raised his hands into the air. "Hmm, congratulations," he scoffed.

Kleft reached down, grabbed the soldier by the neck and lifted him to his face. With his free hand, he grabbed the soldier's head, and tore off his helmet, revealing the face of an otter. "Are you gonna come quietly?" he asked.

The soldier spit at him and said, "What would taking me in do? I am but one small part of Lord V's ultimate army. Whether or not you consider this a victory, you shall all fall to his might in the end."

"I figured as much." Kleft then tossed the soldier high into the air. As he fell to the ground, Kleft raised his fist, which the soldier landed on, piercing his armor and hitting him hard in the gut. By all means, he should be unconscious by now.

Smash watched as Kleft dealt him his due punishment. He looked around to make sure there were no other soldiers in the area.

Something on Kleft's wrist began to beep. "Looks like we've got a meeting to get to. Come on guys, I'd better introduce you."

After seeing that the enemies were now under control, Smash nodded at him. "That ended quicker than I thought." He commented. "Alright, I suppose we'd better go. But first I need to check on someone."

"We have to hurry. The other officials should be there by now," Kleft said. "Follow me."

Smash left into the alleyway where Violet rested, seeing that she was just coming to.

"Where...?" She asked, groggily. She looked around with her eyes half open.

"Good, you're awake." Smash said, holding out a hand to her. "I'll explain everything along the way. Right now, we need to get out of here."

Violet blinked at him cluelessly, but then followed along.

Kleft pressed a button on his wrist. Suddenly, the ground in front of him fell away, revealing a narrow stairway heading into the ground. "Coming?" he asked the others.

"Well, we can't go much place else," Burst said, "I'm in."

Smash rejoined the group with Violet behind him. "Why is it so HOT here..?" She groaned, blocking the sunlight from her eyes with her hand.

Seeing the underground passageway, Smash said "We'll be out of the sunlight soon enough. Don't worry."

Kleft led the group down the stairway, which seemed to twist and turn in every direction. Smash explained the situation to Violet as they walked. After what seemed like hours, they finally reached -- a dead end. "Follow me," he said, and walked straight through the hard stone wall.

"Whoa, What?" Smash gasped. Violet's eyes widened with shock.

Inferna quickly recovers from the surprise and follows him through the wall.

Smash and Violet exchanged glances before heading in.

(The doorway leads to Levarious)

Levarious
Tsunami woke up and jumped to her feet. She looked around, taking in the sight of this place, seemingly unimpressed. She was on some sort of metallic surface, only it wasn't metal. She felt as if she were underwater, yet she could still breathe. If she looked up she would see that the sky was distorted as if looking through the surface of water. She appeared to be in some kind of futuristic city, only everything was underwater.

A red cat floated upside down, slowly descending towards the metallic ground. He looked too confused to even speak.

A hissing noise is heard a little bit away. Tsunami turns and walks toward the sound. She lifts a large chunk of rubble one-handed, as if it were made of paper, and tosses it aside. The white snake underneath the rubble slithers up her leg until he is draped over her shoulders. "Thank you, Aquella," he says.

The cat flipped right-side up and landed on his feet. "Would somebody please explain what's going on here?"

"I'm afraid I don't know myself," Orochimaru says. Tsunami remains silent.

"You guys aren't from this world aren't you?" said a voice.

Tsunami remains perfectly still, as if she hadn't even heard the voice. Orochimaru turns to it, replying, "As a matter of fact, we're not."

"Wait, we're not?" The cat asked. "Hold up, Then where the heck ARE we?"

"Why are you standing? Don't you know you can swim?" A long, blue, sea-dragon like creature appeared from under a couple of rocks.

The cat took a step back, startled from his large appearance. He immediately realized that it was friendly. "Yeah, I kinda figured that out myself..." He said. "Tell me, Where is this place?"

"Follow me. I'll show you." The dragon then swam into the distance.

Tsunami swims after it with great speed. Orochimaru hangs on tight.

The cat went and swam after it as well.

They soon came to a city made entirely out of coral-like material. The 'buildings' were of all different shapes, sizes and colors, some stood on the sea floor while others hung from larger buildings. Framed windows and doors dotted their surfaces. Within the city creatures similar to the one leading Tsunami and the cat were swimming to and fro, all different colors and sizes.

"Welcome to Aquarion. My name is Levi," said the dragon. "You guys are from 'that' dimension, right? The one with planet Earth?"

"And I'm Gizmo." The cat returned the introduction. "And yes, we are."

"I may be able to send you guys back there," Levi said.

"Really?" Gizmo's eyes lit up. "That's great! How do we get back?"

"Have you guys heard of V?"

"No, not really." He shook his head.

"Follow me," Levi said, swimming into a window of a coral building.

Inside, it looked like a regular office building on earth, only it was swarming with fish and other sea serpents, who proceeded to stare at the strange visitors.

Gizmo followed the sea dragon, curiously looking around at their surroundings. The place was very strange to him, yet very fascinating at the same time.

Levi led them into a circular room made entirely out of sky blue material. In the center a transparent glass orb was suspended in the air. "I'm not sure if this will work, but I'll give it a shot." Levi then began typing on a seemingly invisible keyboard in front of the orb.

Gizmo came up behind him, looking over his shoulder. He watched him type and wondered just how everything worked.

An image appeared in the crystal orb. It showed several bars of different colors, but three had much higher readings than the others. "According to this, there's been high inter-dimensional activity between three dimensions. I'm guessing that's where your friends must be."

"Wait, My friends got caught up in this too?" Gizmo asked, looking shocked. "Exactly How many people got thrown around!?"

"I don't know. I can't find out exactly how many, but from the looks of this chart it seems that a large number of people were transported. There're only two people who can cause such a large dimensional rift: Ciel, and with her power, V."

"V?" Gizmo asked. "The one you mentioned earlier? Who is that, anyway?"

"V, his real name unknown, is a malevolent being bent on ruling every corner of the multi-verse. He is extremely dangerous due to the fact that he seems capable of doing, well, anything."

Gizmo's eyes widened. "N-No way..." He gasped.

Tsunami silently ponders this new information, not a flicker of emotion crossing her face.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion somewhere outside the building. "What was that?" Levi said as he swam out the window to see what was happening.

Several of the coral buildings were on fire, although they appeared to be underwater, and floating in place was a fox, arms crossed with blonde hair with black streaks at the ends. "What are we supposed to be looking for again?" He asked, seemingly no one. "We're looking for those guys who got away from lord V!" he replied to himself. "Wait," he said, "I sense them somewhere nearby." He started floating towards the building they were in, energy building up in his palms.

Tsunami clenches her fists. To her, this fox looks like a challenge, and that means she may have found someone worthy of testing her newest powers on.

"Oh look at that! Another thing we can play with!" he said, grinning almost psychotically. His face then relaxed into a more bored expression. "We shouldn't underestimate this one. If she came out to fight, she must be pretty strong." The crazed expression returned. "Lets see what you got fool!"

"Mentally unstable, eh?" Tsunami mutters, her face still expressionless. Tsunami begins walking casually toward the fox, energy crackling around her.

"Mentally unstable? Is that what you think?" His hand began glowing with purple energy, which then formed into a long pole. A sharp blade popped out at one of the ends. "You shouldn't make assumptions." He said, and swung his scythe, shooting a crescent shaped blast of energy.

Tsunami vanishes and reappears instantly on top of a nearby building. "Gonna have to be faster than that," she taunts dryly.

"Like this!?" The fox was now just above Tsunami swinging his scythe down, the blade centimeters above her head.

Tsunami's sword is suddenly in her hand in a defensive position, blocking the scythe's blade. "Much better," she replies.

"Heh." He did a flip, and jumped off Tsunami's blade. He was now several feet in front of her. He turned the bladeless end of the scythe towards her, and it suddenly extended at high speed, straight towards Tsunami.

Tsunami sidesteps the advancing pole. She grabs it and sends a high-voltage electric current through it into the fox.

He takes the pain of the electrocution, and cries out. Suddenly, several long blades of energy extend from the pole where Tsunami is holding onto it.

Tsunami winces and releases the pole. A cyan light is emitted from beneath her clenched fingers. When she opens them again, the cuts have closed.

"Well that's certainly interesting!" the fox said in his crazed voice. "Maybe I should cut you so bad you can't heal!" he said, appearing right in Tsunami's face at the last words and attempting to slash her with his glowing scythe.

The blade slices straight through her and she collapses to the ground as a puddle of water. Orochimaru, who was still on her shoulders when she took the hit, goes flying backward, an open wound across his long body.

"Well if she's gone, might as well kill her pet!" He shouted as he threw his scythe at Orochimaru, who would be sliced in half if he was hit.

The puddle Tsunami had become rears up and catches the pole of the scythe. The puddle reforms into Tsunami. Orochimaru opens his mouth wide. A hand reaches out and pulls itself out, followed by a white mobian bat. Orochimaru's serpentine body goes limp as his consciousness had been transferred into the bat.

Suddenly, a hand shoots out of the scythe handle, and grabs a firm hold of Tsunami's arm. "Hello there," said a fox, looking exactly like the other one only with pure black hair, emerging from the scythe. He then sent his purple energy surging through Tsunami's body like electricity. "Don't over do it, Gem," said the other fox, whose hair was now completely blonde, "V may still want her alive."

Tsunami throws a lightning-laced punch at Gem's face, while Orochimaru attempts to bite the fox's arm.

He takes both hits, laughing maniacally, and retracts into the scythe, which then reappears in the other fox's hands. "It's over now. You've lost," he said.

"Don't count me out just yet," Tsunami warns him, "You haven't seen a fraction of my true power." Orochimaru flies at the fox in his bat body.

"What an idiot," the fox said, extending he hand towards Orochimaru. Suddenly, several purple spikes shot out from within his body, skewering him, but not killing him. "By the way, my names Eli, not that it matters." Gem soon stood by his side. He put his hand on Eli's shoulder, his body turned a bright purple, and he merged with him, and Eli's hair was now blonde with black streaks. "You're a goner."

A blue hedgehog with a cape and goggles on his head walked up to everyone. "What's all the commotion?" he asked.

(By the way just so everyone knows all the characters are submerged in something like water, only they can breathe and its easy to move around.Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 02:36, May 22, 2011 (UTC))

"Deal with him," Eli said, just as Gem shot out towards the hedgehog with a blade of purple energy.

Gizmo watched from inside the building, not knowing what to do. "This all happened so suddenly, I don't have any weapons on me..." He said to himself. "What do I do..? Without any weapons against these guys, I'm as good as dead..."

Orochimaru opens his mouth wide again, unhinging it despite being a bat at the moment. As if shedding skin, another bat crawls out in perfect health. He smirks and attacks Eli again.

(That seems a bit unfair :

"Fine then. If you can't be killed I'll trap you like a rat." Spikes emerged from Orochimarus body and impaled him again, only this time they also formed a small orb, trapping the bat inside.

"As for you," he turned to Tsunami. "Who are you anyway?"

"I am Aquella Oceania," Tsunami replies, "But i prefer to be called Tsunami."

"Out of curiosity," he said, "are you able to regenerate like that snake-thing? I'm debating on how I should go about killing you."

"Just kill her the most painful way," Gem said while fusing with Eli.

Tsunami charges at them at blinding speeds, but Gem and Eli were nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, Levi swam up to Gizmo, and handed him a gun-like weapon. "Heard you complaining. Take this. It fires blasts of highly compressed energy bullets."

Gizmo took the gun into his hands. "More like worrying. Thanks, this will do nicely."

Gem/Eli were now standing on top of a large coral building, surveying the scene. Tsunami was nowhere to be found, and Gizmo and Levi were wide open for attacking. "Perfect," they said, and began building up energy in their scythe.

Gem/Eli feel a heel slam into the back of their head. Sensing the energy they were charging, Tsunami had reappeared behind them and kicked.

"Gwah!" they shouted as they fell, or floated, off the building. "Why didn't you sense her coming?" Eli's voice said, "didn't you...do your thing?" Gem's voice spoke next. "Oops. Sorry, I forgot." Gem/Eli flipped in mid air, and landed on another building. "Ready for me?" he asked Tsunami.

Tsunami answers by cracking her knuckles. They soon fired a flurry of knife-like bullets at her.

Moving at blinding speeds, Tsunami lashes out with her arms, knocking each bullet off course with a tiny burst of water.

Gem/Eli rushes towards Tsunami at equal speed, scythe raised, aiming to cut her in half.

Tsunami's Hookblades appear in her hands. She catches the blade of the scythe on one blade and slices at Gem/Eli with the other.

Gem's torso suddenly sprouts out of Eli, and knocks the blade away, while Eli flipped over Tsunami, dislodging his scythe in the process.

Tsunami slams the hookblades together. They combine and change shape, becoming a huge Trident.

Gem/Eli land on top of a nearby building. "Let's finish this!" they shouted in unison,raising their scythe. A hand placed itself on the scythe, lowering it. The hand belonged to a shadowy figure that suddenly appeared next to Gem/Eli. "Marz?" they asked.

"What do you think you're doing? You're orders were to let us know when you found them, not to engage them in battle."

"Well we..."

"No matter. I'll take it from here." Marz then looked to Tsunami. "I'm your opponent now."

"Fine," Tsunami mutters, spinning her trident in her hand.

"For some odd reason, V is interested in you. Would you consider joining our ranks?"

"Sorry," Tsunami replies flatly, "But I've already got a power-hungry villain on my side."

"Hm, all right then. Then I can kill you now."

"Can you?" Tsunami taunts.

"I can sense your power. It's nowhere near mine. Now, It's not really my style to make the first move."

Without another word, Tsunami vanishes and instantly reappears above and behind Marz. She stabs downward with her Trident.

The trident stabs the roof of the building. Marz's foot is suddenly centimeters away from Tsunami's head, about to catch her in a powerful round house kick.

Tsunami transforms into water again at the last second. The kick connects, causing her liquid head to splash all over. She soon reforms a little ways away. "You are powerful indeed," she says, "You saw my Flash Step. So what? I know someone who can see it, copy it, and use it against me. And I've beaten him countless times."

"Your boasting is getting a little annoying.," Marz said with an irritated look on his face. "And you're comparing me to a copycat? My abilities are mine and mine alone, and a fraction of it is enough to defeat you."

Tsunami closes her eyes. "You haven't seen my true power. I have yet to change into any of my more powerful forms." she replies. She opens her eyes now. The whites of her eyes are now cyan while the pupils have become dark blue.

"Well hurry up and do that. I don't want to waste any more time here. Your boasts mean nothing if you can't live up to them."

A sphere of electricity appears in Tsunami's hand, lightning lancing off of it in all directions. She hurls the sphere at Marz with unbelievable strength. As soon as it leaves her hand, the sphere becomes incredibly unstable and explosive.

"That's all? And here I thought you were gonna bring out something interesting. Oh well." The sphere hurled closer and closer to Marz, until, it suddenly appeared behind him, and exploded far off in the distance.

Orange flame-pattern markings begin to spread from the back left side of Tsunami neck. Once her left side is covered in them, the markings stop moving and become black. Her power seems to have just steeply shot up.

"That's new," Marz said, "Do those marks do anything? Or are they merely for decoration?"

Gizmo watched the fight from within the building. "Those guys...They're after us?" He asked. "I've never seen them in my life. Why are they after us?"

Tsunami answers Marz, "This is the Curse Mark given to me by the white snake Orochimaru. It sends my physical abilities to unnatural levels." To prove her point, she vanishes and reappears high up in the air. She then reappears again, bringing her trident down on top of Marz, this time much faster than the first.

"Looking for me?" Marz was standing upside down above Tsunami, his feet hanging on to...nothing. "In case you haven't noticed, you can't touch me."

Tsunami begins emitting bolts of lightning from every part of her body. It would be nearly impossible for anyone in range to avoid being electrocuted.

"What?" Marz said before vanishing, just as a bolt of lightning touched his arm. In an instant, Marz was nowhere to be seen.

Tsunami stops emitting electricity and stands perfectly still. Her eyes, the whites and pupil still cyan and dark blue, close as she concentrates on her surroundings.

Suddenly, a small distortion of space appears in front of Tsunami's face, with a powrful enegry blast shooting out from it.

In an instant, Tsunami is high up in the air, her eyes still closed. Her mind is buzzing with thoughts, ideas, and strategies as she begins to piece together the mystery of Marz's abilities.

Marz emerges from the roof of a building, the material warping like a water splash. He was some distance away from his opponent, and eyed her carefully. His hand began to glow with red plasma-like energy. Then, he tossed it straight above him, into the sky like a rocket. "Ready for the real thing?" he asked.

Tsunami vanishes again, reappearing directly below Marz. She kicks upward, her foot infused with lightning. If her attack worked, her heel would slam into Marz's chin, knocking him high in the air. Tsunami would then reappear behind him, restrain him with surprisingly strong threads of water laced with lightning. The two would fall toward the ground below, headfirst and spinning at ferocious speeds like a large, lightning laced drill.

Unfortunately, the attack didn't work, as her heel entered a wormhole in space, and reappeared above Marz's head. When she looked closely, she could see from her ankle to her foot above Marz's head, with the rest of her body below his chin.

She quickly pulls her leg back out of the wormhole and leaps away, putting plenty of distance between her and her opponent. More of her begin appearing on either side of her until Marz is surrounded by an army of Tsunamis.

Marz reaches out his hand into thin air, and from his wrist up vanished into thin air. His hand reappeared around Tsunami's neck.

But the hand goes right through her, as if she's not even there. The multitude of opponents all charge Marz from all directions. Each one throws a punch once they're close enough, but only one would make contact. The others would go right through him.

Should have seen that coming, he thought to himself as he sank into the ground at lightning speed, causing the Tsunami's to crash into one another. Marz is suddenly standing above Tsunami, standing on thin air. "This battle appears to be dragging on longer than expected. What do you say we end this?"

The Tsunamis collide, but all go right through each other. They turn to look up at him. "What's the matter?" one asks, "Afraid I'll figure out your weakness?" another taunts, "Or are you just afraid to get beat by a girl?" a third adds.

"Oh please, I have no weaknesses. It is simply that I have other matters to attend to, and you're wasting my time. Tell me something: Can you dodge rain?"

The Tsunamis all look offended by the question. "You're asking ME to dodge RAIN?!" one shoots back in annoyance, "How insulting!" another says, "Do you have any idea who I am?!" the third yells.

"Figure of speech, little girl. Remember that energy blast I shot into the sky?" As he spoke, the now gigantic energy ball appeared over Marz's head. "Let's see you handle this." The massive ball suddenly exploded into a shower of millions of red sparks, all of them darting straight towards Tsunami. The sheer radius of the attack makes it impossible to dodge for most people, as the shower was over a mile in length.

The Tsunami army seems mostly unaffected by the attack. Each spark that comes for them seems to go right through them, as if the entire army was nothing but an illusion.

"Hm. No matter. I'll just store till she decides to show herself." Each spark suddenly vanishes into their own distortion of space. "What's the matter? Got cold feet?"

The Tsunamis all hurl a sphere of lightning at him, but only one of them would hit.

As expected, the spheres vanished when the reached Marz, then reappered behind him. "Like I said before, you can't hit me."

The army of Tsunamis fades away. The real Tsunami is nowhere to be seen.

"Looks like she's hiding again." A beeping sound came from his wrist. "Yes my lord?" he answered.

"What is taking so long?"

"I'm in the middle of a fight sir,"

"Well stop it. You're needed somewhere else. The others can wait."

"....All right, sir."

Tsunami appears nearby.

Gizmo slit his eyes at Marz, watching his call on his com-link.

"Turns out I have to leave. And I was just about ready to fight for real. What a shame."

The black flame-pattern markings covering Tsunami's left side begin to glow orange, and recede back to the point on her neck where they originated.

"Till next time, Tsunami," he said, backing up into a distortion in space, then vanishing completely.

The ground beside Tsunami begins to rise slightly. Out of the distortion slithers a white snake, who then coils up Tsunami's leg and drapes himself over her shoulders. Orochimaru.

"They're gone..." Gizmo whispered. He looked down, thinking everything over. Soon, He turned to Levi with a serious expression. "We need to get to the other dimensions and find everyone." He said. "Can you help us?"

"I can try. I'll have to search for any recent -- hold on a sec." He took out some sort of PDA device. "Well, looks like you've got a message from Ciel." he handed the device to Gizmo.

Gizmo tilted his head to the side. "Ciel?" He asked, taking the device. "Isn't that one of the two only people capable of causing a large dimensional rift? How would she know me?" He looked at the device. "Or maybe she knew she accidentally sent someone here and was sending a message to them in general, that being us." He suggested as he began to read the message. "Hm, Lets see here..."

On the screen was an image of a green haired fox girl in a desert-like area. "Who am I speaking to exactly?" she asked.

Gizmo's eyebrows shot up. "This is a live video chat type of message?" He asked, then looked at Levi. "I thought this was some sorta text message!" He then looked back at the screen. "My name's Gizmo The Cat. And you're Ciel, right?" He asked.

"Yes. Is there anyone else with you?" She asked.

"Well, there's about two more. One just fended off like 3 people sent by this V guy, who were apparently coming to capture us. And the other is Levi here."

"Capture you? That's odd. For now, just stick with Levi. He'll explain everything to you guys."

"I will?" Levi asked, a little confused.

"Sure you will," Ciel said before the transmission ended.

Gizmo blinked, and then turned to Levi, waiting for his response.

"Sigh. I think it'd be best if you followed me. It's time I introduced you to the resistance."

Gizmo nodded. "Right." He then followed him to the area where the resistance were.

Tsunami follows silently with Orochimaru riding on her shoulders.

Levi led them into a deep trench. After swimming downwards for quite a while, he suddenly stopped. "5151 2167," he said, facing a large boulder. Suddenly, green streaks lit up the boulder, traveling around it like complex circuitry. Then, it vanished altogether, fading away into nothingness. "Right this way," he said to the others as he swam inside the newly formed cave.

Gizmo seemed to be impressed with the type of technology they were using. He kept following, anxious to know what else there was to see.

Tsunami continues following them. It is apparent that she is trying hard not to show her amazement.

They moved through a very long and dark tunnel for what seemed like hours. Then they saw light at the end of the tunnel. When they finally reached the light, they found that they were now moving through a transparent tube, encircled by gold rings at several intervals and floored with fine carpet. The light came from several lights that lined the top of the tube. "Welcome to the resistance HQ," Levi said, silently laughing at their amazement.

"Whoa! This place is pretty cool!" Gizmo exclaimed.

Another sea-dragon creature walked/swam up to them. "Your friends have arrived," he said to Tsunami and Gizmo.

Tsunami tries to reclaim her uncaring look. "Take us," she says.

"Yes, Please!" Gizmo chimed in. "I wanna make sure they're actually "My" friends or not."

"Well, let's go see then," Levi said as he continued along the passage. He led them to what looked like a large waiting room, with many seats upholstered with red velvet-like material. As soon as they arrived, a humanoid lizard-like creature had just stepped through a doorway, which contained spiraling blue colors -- a portal. Following the strange creature, a few familiar faces came out of the portal.

Gizmo looked at the creature, somewhat unsettled by his gruff appearance. He looked behind him, noticing other people following him. They looked to be from his world. He immediately recognized the next couple of people to walk through the door. "..Smash!? Violet!?" He exclaimed in disbelief.

Hearing their names called, Smash and Violet stepped out from behind the others to see Gizmo staring at them in shock. "Gizmo! You got caught up in all of this, too?" Smash asked, looking surprised.

Tsunami and Inferna's eyes meet and the two immediately stop moving.

Burst walked through from behind Inferna, and stopped aswell. "Oh geeze," he whispered.

Orochimaru lifts his head and hisses, warning Burst and Inferna not to come any closer.

"Where are the others?" Levi asked Kleft. "I asked the representative from Blussora to come as well."

"Sirs!" Another sea dragon came up to them and addressed Levi. "Blussora's under attack by V. They're requesting assistance!"

Smash looked over at the sea dragon, both eyebrows raised high. He wanted to ask about the whole place, but there wasn't any time for that. "Well, I guess we can just skip the formalities. There are guys out there that need our help."

"They said their fighting their best at the capital city, but there are waves of soldiers coming from the East. From what they told us, more of your friends are currently preventing the advancing waves from reaching the city."

"Well then, Let's get in there and finish them off." Smash cracked his knuckles. "We could try to ambush them, maybe from the back or the sides. It'll be a great help and take a load off our friend's backs."

"We're sending off a batch of soldiers to fight in Blussora. I guess you guys could join them if you're up to it." Levi then turned to a sea dragon who was working at the computers. "Set the portal to Blussora, to the coordinates they sent us."

Suddenly, the doorway changed color; it went from sky blue to bright green. "You guys run ahead. Our forces will be right behind you."

Violet, Smash and Gizmo all exchanged glances before nodding at eachother. "Let's do it." Gizmo said, grinning confidently. The three of them then ran through the portal.

Inferna follows them through the portal, Tsunami following calmly behind.

Burst eyed Orochimaru as he and Tsunami walked through, then followed as well.

Part 3: Returning Home
V stood in his digital world, surveying worlds he'd conquered on hundreds of different monitors. He had seen what had happened on Blussora, and the sudden appearance of the heroes annoyed him to no end. "I should have sent Marz or Lucian to that dimension. Oh well, they'll fall eventually. But those ones" He looked at the monitor showing the heroes from Mobius. "They might be some trouble." He clenched his fist. "Maybe I should show them exactly what they're dealing with." He turned to another monitor, this one showing an image of Marz, one of his generals, in Station Square. "Marz, do you have everything under control?"

"We're nearly finished setting up sir. This world should be yours in a short amount of time."

"Good, because I'm coming."

Back on Levarious, in the Resistance HQ...

"Excellent job guys" Levi said, "we were about to send in our army when Ciel said the battle was over."

Smash and his group looked almost like they had just barely survived the apocalypse or something. "I'm sure it would have been REALLY helpful." Smash said. "Anyway, We may have won the battle, but the war is far from over. I think we need to take the time we have left to prepare for what's to come."

"Speaking of which, I'd really like it if I could get back home to get my stuff." Gizmo said. "Although I'm really glad to have this gun you gave me, Levi, I'm just really at a disadvantage without the rest of my gear."

"Luckily, we were planning to send you guys to Mobius. That's where V's heading next. He hasn't been able to do much in your world yet so you can still stop him."

"Really? We get to go home?" Banzai said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, but we need to save it from V," Beat replied.

"Alright, we'll settle things there." Smash said, cracking his knuckles. "Once we get there, everyone get whatever it is you need to get. Meet back at my house. Western side of Green Flower City. Big house; you can't miss it."

"Sounds like a plan," Ciel said, "I'm coming too. Someone needs to close the dimensional rift in the middle of the city."

"Well that won't be too hard, since the only area we can send you to is the open rift. We haven't established any connections to your world yet," Levi said.

"Then it's settled." Smash nodded. "Let's get going."

Burst, who had regained consciousness, gave a thumbs up in agreement. The wolf walked towards the exit of the HQ. The reason he followed them was unknown, but it appeared he was now going his own way.

"Where are you going? Unless you have some other way of traversing the cosmos, it might be best to stick around," Levi said.

The wolf chuckled and slashed across the door with his sword, opening a violet rift. "There is much about me you do not know... and you never shall." He walked through the rift and it closed behind him, its destination unknown. Burst looked back with confusion and asked, "Anyone know who that is?"

Inferna shakes her head, "Not a clue."

Smash gave the wolf an extremely suspicious look, and kept his eyes on him until he was gone.

"Whatever. As long as he's on our side," Levi said. "Ciel?"

"On it," Ciel placed her hand on the air, and created a large inter-dimensional hole. "Coming?" she asked the others. Banzai was the first to jump in, followed by Beat, and soon the rest of the group.

Burst tried to ignore the wolf. Something about that guy rubs me the wrong way, he thought. "After you, Inferna," he said, gesturing towards the hole.

In Station Square...

Banzai and Beat arrived on the harbour, the last place they were before all the inter-dimensional madness. Ciel followed suit.

"Everyone here?" Ciel asked.

Levi and Kleft were the last ones out of the hole. "I think so," Levi said.

Smash stretched his arms out into the air. "Ahh! Hooome sweet home!" He said, sounding relieved.

"You can say THAT again!" Splice chimed in.

"So this is Mobius," Kleft said, "Not really how I pictured it."

"Well, coming from someone who lives in a desert with 3 suns-"

"Hey guys, we should probably get a move on." Gizmo reminded them. "Not sure how much time we got left, but we're in the wrong city for most of our stuff and our meeting point."

"Right," Burst added, "Speaking of, I'll meet you guys there. I've gotta go pick up a couple things from my apartment." With a wave goodbye, he dashed off to the south.

"We should hurry. Who knows how far along he is with his plans," Levi said.

"I'll be back. Just got some stuff to do," Banzai said before riding of into the distance on his staff.

"I don't really have anything to get, so I guess I'm coming with you guys," Beat said.

"All right then. Smash, would you mind showing us the way?" Kleft asked.

Smash nodded. "Right. Beat, you can make a hovering disk like thing, right? If you please, it would be much faster if we could use it."

"Sure, no prob." Beat's hands glowed, and a cyan blue disk appeared beneath his feet, and expanded until everyone was on top of it. "Let's go!" The disk rose into the air, and flew i in the direction of Smash's house.

Soon, they made it to Greenflower City. Once they were on the same street as Smash's house, Smash rose his hand. "We can stop here." He said. "Some of us will part at this point."

"Okay." The disk descended to the ground, and disappeared when it hit the street. "I've got no place else to go, so I'll stick around," Beat said.

"We'll stay too," Kleft said.

"I'll be heading home now." Gizmo said. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Me too." Splice said. "In fact, That's my house right over there, so I'll be back in a couple minutes." He pointed across the street, past another house, towards a yellow one with a red roof. "See ya in a bit." He and Gizmo then left.

"I'm going to check up on things here." Violet said. "This is actually my house right here." She turned around and walked into the driveway of the house they were standing right in front of.

Smash then looked at the rest of the group. "Alright, then. Let's head on over to my place." He lead the group further down the street. They could all see his house from there, it was the biggest one on the block.

"Lead the way," Levi said.

Once they got to his house, Smash opened the front door and looked around inside. He then stepped aside and let everyone else come in before closing the door behind him. "Well, Make yourselves at home."

"Thank you very much," Levi said, stepping in.

"Hey, where'd Ciel go?" Kleft asked.

In a flash, Ciel appeared in Smash's living room. "Sorry, just making sure my powers are working again."

"Don't sweat it." Smash simply replied. "I'mma be upstairs for a few minutes. I've got some things of my own to stock up on." He then walked upstairs, and in a few moments they could hear a door close.

Pearl looked around at everyone in the living room. "So, uh, Can I get you all anything? Maybe some tea?"

"Something to drink would be nice," Levi said, pulling out a small, transparent, square piece of material. It grew until it was the size of a laptop. Several windows appeared on the square, which Levi scrolled through using his other index finger.

"I'll come back with some tea, then." Pearl said before leaving into the kitchen. Soon afterwards, Smash came downstairs.

"Okay, I'm back." He announced.

"Good," Levi said. "I'm running a scan for any abnormal inter-dimensional activity. I wanted to notify you if I found anything."

"Right, because inter-dimensional activity is usually normal," Kleft added, quite sarcastically.

"Quite." Smash added, with the same level of sarcasm.

"As I was saying, I picked up something strange. there seems to be a lot of activity in this green, hill-ish area. I'm assuming V's setting up there."

Ciel stood up, and held her fist in her hand. "Well that means we've got to stop him from setting up, otherwise this world is gone."

"Right!" Burst called out, who had just come through the door, "Sorry to barge in, but I felt like a dramatic entrance."

"That's your idea of dramatic?" Kleft added, silently laughing.

"Okay. We should wait till everyone gets here before discussing what to do next," Levi said. "Oh, and guys, if anyone doesn't want to fight, just know that you don't have to. I don't feel good bringing others into danger."

"Don't worry, We'll fight." Smash reassured him as he sat down.

Burst sighed as he walked further into the house and casually took a seat, spinning a cyan ring on his finger. "So, you make any breakthroughs while I was gone?" he asked.

"We found out V's in Greenhill Zone," Ciel said, "and we need to figure out how to stop him from taking control."

"Green Hill Zone?" Burst repeated, "On South Island? What would he be doing all the way out there?"

"Green Hill, huh?" Smash said. "Well, it could be worse."

Violet then came inside. "I'm back." She announced. Splice came in behind her. "Hey guys." He said.

"Should we wait for the others or head out now?" Kleft asked.

"I dunno. How much time do you think we got?" Smash asked. Pearl then came back into the living room and served everyone some hot green tea.

"Not much. Maybe a day or two till he's done? We should act fast."

"Then let's go!" Burst commented, "We can't just sit here waiting while he destroys our world like he did the others. I like our world!"

"Heck, Who doesn't like their home world?" Smash said. He took a sip of the tea he was served. "But yeah, We should hurry. Who all are we missing?"

"Here!" Banzai shouted as he walked through the door. Are we ready to get going?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Levi said. "Ciel, since your powers are up and running again, can you tell who's is in this world?"

"I can try." Ciel closed her eyes, and clasped her hands togerther, as if in prayer. She held that position for several seconds. THen she opened her eyes again. "I can sense Marz, Gem and Eli in Green Hill Zone."

"Who're they?" Beat asked.

After taking a sip of tea, Burst added, "Didn't Lucian and Soshiro say something about them?"

"I don't recall Lucian saying anything, but Soshiro did admit they were strong, and they are." Levi searched through several files on his device. "Our files say that Gem and Eli work as a pair. Main weapons include a scythe, a staff and a sword. And they have a number of odd abilities as well. As for Marz, well, he usually...disposes of our men before we can gather any data."

Violet gulped. "Sounds really..dangerous." Pearl commented, sounding rather worried.

"Well then," A voice said from the door. Gizmo stepped in dramatically, along with a chao with cat ears flying near his head. Both of them had an equally determined look on their faces "Let's, Get, Dangerous!" They both said simultaneously.

"Yeah!" Burst agreed, "Gizmo's right. We're heroes, and we've gotta do things dangerously sometimes so Mobius stays safe."

"Yeah!" Splice agreed, punching his fist into the air.

Smash stood up. "Darn right. Is everyone present and accounted for?"

"Well then, everyone seems to be ready, so let's get going!" Levi looked to Ciel. "Um, would you mind..."

"No problem." Ciel waved her hand and opened another rift in space, presumably leading to Green Hill.

"By the way, nice entrance, Gizmo." Pearl giggled.

"Better than Burst's, at least." Smash joked before heading towards the rift.

Gizmo blushed slightly. "Eheheh, I've always wanted to say that."

"Alright, Let's go!" Splice called out before jumping through the portal. Violet soon followed after him, along with everyone else.

Tendril and Inferna follow the others into the rift. Even Tsunami walks though, Orochimaru still perched on her shoulders.

Cold:(Thinking)Tendril and Inferna.

thumb|right|200px|I couldn't resist.At Greenhill Zone...

Marz was overseeing an operation carried out by several of V's grunts. They appeared to be assembling some sort of satellite-device, it's purpose currently unknown.

The rift Ciel had created opened up on top of one of the many loops in Greenhill, giving them a nice view of the area.

As the group stepped out, Violet looked around with amazement. "Wow...I've never realized just how beautiful this place is." She said, looking at the great view of the area.

"Yep, This place is really something, huh?" Splice added.

"Yeah. And if we don't hurry we'll lose it. Along with all the other beautiful sites we got here." Smash reminded them. "Use this view we got here to try and spot V's men. Can you see any of them?"

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that's them," Banzai said, pointing to a large satellite looking machine.

"Oh." Smash said, feeling slightly stupid. "Well...that was easy enough. Now we just need to get over there."

"Hey Smash, Before I forget..." Gizmo began shuffling through a large bag.

Smash looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. "What's up, Gizmo?"

"I made you something...Ah, Here it is!" He pulled out two pieces of steel armor, but where they would fit wasn't clear just by looking at it. "I made an attachment to your gloves. Here, put them on." He handed them to Smash, who looked down at them with interest. He fiddled around with them for a few seconds, before finally fitting them onto his gloves. They appeared to be pieces of armor made to guard the back of his hand down to below his wrists. "Trust me, I think you're gonna need em." He said.

"Okay, can we stop reminiscing and figure out how we're going to go about this?" Beat asked.

"I was going to suggest using your disk to fly over there, Beat, But..." Splice trailed off.

"We'd be spotted too soon." Smash finished for him. "We'll probably need to go on foot."

"We need to approach carefully. No doubt they'd be able to detect us if we get too close," Levi said. "We need a distraction."

"Let me go. If I use my staff I can fly overhead and blend in with the clouds," Banzai suggested. "Then I can rain them with energy blasts."

"While the rest of us come in from behind, right?" Smash asked.

"You sure you'll be okay on your own?" Pearl asked him.

"Well, once they're all focusing on me, you guys can go and take them down," Banzai said.

"What about the elites, Marz, Gem and Eli? I don't think they'll go down easily," Kleft said.

"They won't." Smash said. "That's why we're taking them on. Remember that Banzai's just a distraction. But first thing's first, I think that when we get there we should destroy that satellite thing before we do anything else. I've just got this bad feeling that if we waste time fighting them without getting rid of it, something really bad is going to happen."

"All right, I'm off. Wait for my signal, all right?" Banzai said, hopping on his staff as if it was a board.

"And before you give the signal, wait till we're in position, alright?" Smash added.

"Okay," Banzai said. His staff began emitting white smoke, making it look almost like a cloud as he dashed high up into the sky.

"Now we wait," Beat said.

"Shouldn't we be getting closer instead of sitting here?" Splice asked.

"Not too close. We don't want to be detected do we?" Kleft said.

"Maybe we should get off this loop," Beat said. "Anyone need a lift?"

"Yeah, That'd be nice." Splice said.

"Let's all hitch a ride." Smash said.

Beat created a disk large enough to hold everyone. He then lowered the disk off of the loop and on to the ground.

Meanwhile, Banzai was floating high above the satellite. He could see scores of V's grunts scurrying all around the machine, trying to finish it. "Time to have some fun," he said. He began building up large amounts of energy in his hands. Suddenly, in a flash, he found himself on the ground, surrounded by V's soldiers, his staff held in the hands of a gray fox. "And who might you be?" he asked.

"Something's wrong," Levi said.

"What is is Levi?" Burst asked with concern.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Smash asked, sounding even more concerned.

"See that crowd gathering near the satellite? And look: other soldiers are starting to look on. I think Banzai's in trouble," Levi said. "We should get moving."

"Yeah, I think you're right..." Smash said, quietly. "Let's move. NOW."

"Come on, let's go!" Kleft said. But before they could go anywhere, they too suddenly found themselves surrounded by V's soldiers, at the base of the massive satellite.

"Uh, what just happened?" Beat asked, bewildered.

'You really thought you could hide from me?" Marz said, standing over them.

"Dang! It was a trap!" Smash exclaimed, looking around at all the soldiers.

"Oh, well That's just great." Splice groaned. "Can't ANYTHING go right today?"

"Welcome to reality," Marz said, "things don't always go your way. Oh, and high sis."

"Hi Marz," Ciel groaned.

"All right then, plan B," Levi said.

"What's plan B?" Violet whispered.

"We fight!" He said.

"Take them out," Marz said. The soldiers all raised their guns and aimed at them. Just as they fired, Beat created a large force field around the group, repelling the energy bolts, which ricocheted and took out several soldiers.

Smash released a blast of energy, quickly transforming into his high tension state. "Pearl, Violet, On my mark we'll attack in unison." He ordered. They both stood by his sides, getting into a battle stance.

Gizmo tossed the gun Levi gave him into the air, allowing Kitty to catch it while he pulled out a much bigger gun. Sticking his hand into the back of it, he equipped himself with his Hand Cannon and took aim. Splice, who seemed to be getting annoyed, whipped his arms out to the side. He yelled somewhat angrily as his arms burst into flames.

"The moment you take down that barrier, we'll all go into the offensive." Smash said.

Inferna's battle axe appears in her hands as she prepares to attack. Twin shadow blades appear on Tendril's arms.

Burst was charging up a spindash, and he gave off a turquoise light as he did so.

In an instant, Beat's barrier is dropped, and all hell breaks loose. Soldiers all around start firing at the heroes.

Once the barrier was down, Smash, Pearl and Violet lunged forward at the troops. Smash held his fists out in front of him as his aura surrounding him repelled all the shots away from the three as they proceeded to beat them senseless.

Beat jumps into the air, and unleashes several bolts of cyan blue energy at the soldiers, knocking many of them out. At the same time, Splice leaped up into the air, his back facing Beat, and with a swipe of his hand, fired several blasts of flames at the soldiers.

Burst flew in a flash across the army, taking down soldiers one by one.

Tendril immediately charges headfirst into the middle of the enemy army and begins slicing almost at random.

Gizmo and Kitty began firing rapidly at the soldiers. Gizmo was feeling a lot of recoil from firing so much, but he stood his ground. The blasts of pure Chaos Energy coming from the cannon was overpowering the shots from the soldiers. Kitty took cover behind Gizmo's shoulder and sniped out whichever soldier he thought would be an immediate threat.

After the huge attack, the enemy forces dropped from several dozen to only a handful and Marz, all of which surrounded the gray fox as if trying to protect him.

Tsunami steps forward. Orochimaru is no longer on her shoulders, but on the ground behind the heroes. "I'll take care of the last few." Tsunami says.

"Oh, it's you," Marz said, "ready for round two?"

Smash looked over at them. "You sure you can handle them yourself? The rest of us are here for a reason."

"Trust me. She can." Gizmo said, pulling back his weapon to recharge. "We should go help Banzai."

"Here I am," said Banzai, falling from one of the higher levels of the satellite and landing right on his feet.

"Are you sure you want to take me on alone? You couldn't beat me last time, and I wasn't using even half my strength," Marz said, grinning evilly.

"Banzai, Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Pearl asked, sounding worried.

"He seems to be fine." Smash said, before looking over at Tsunami. "We're all in this one together. Let's all take him."

"Ha, like that would make a difference." He waved his hand in the air, and suddenly a blade made of pure, green energy appeared in his hand. "Even with my sister's guidance, your chances of victory are non-existent"

Smash stood in front of the group, getting into a battle stance. "Oh, It exists alright. You're just blinded by your overconfidence to see it. Even if it's a million to one chance, it exists."

"Why don't you show me the strength of that 'one' chance then?" Marz said, beconing them to fight.

Tsunami releases wave after wave of lightning on the soldiers surrounding Marz.

"Good, you saved me the trouble of doing it myself," he said, still smiling.

"You were going to kill your own soldiers!?" Splice exclaimed.

"Now that's crossing the line." Smash growled. He focused his energy again, his aura returning in a blast of energy.

Tendril nods in agreement. He slams his Shadow Blades together and they fuse and change shape, becoming a large axe with wing-shaped blades.

"Why do you care? They were your enemies," he said. Then, his sword transformed into a gun, which fired a concentrated laser beam at the group of heroes.

Gizmo and Kitty both opened fire, attempting to knock the blast off course with their own shots of highly compressed energy bullets and blasts of pure Chaos Energy.

Tsunami uses the moisture in the air to refract the light in Marz's beam and deflect it.

"Guess that won't work." Marz suddenly vanished, only to reappear above Gizmo, blade in hand, attempting to slice him right down the middle.

Kitty cried out in warning as he saw Marz appear overhead, but Gizmo wasn't fast enough to avoid it. The blade struck with a metallic clang, but didn't pierce anything. Smash was standing right where Gizmo used to be, blocking the blade with his metal guard that Gizmo himself gave him. Gizmo was now lying on the ground after being knocked over. Kitty took this as his chance to try and shoot Marz in the face while Smash retaliated by throwing a punch with his other arm towards Marz' chest.

Smash's went right through Marz, but he didn't seem phased. As kitty's shot reached Marz's face, it ricocheted off an invisible surface, and headed straight for Smash's head.

The shot ended up colliding with Smash's fist. It stung, but his thick gloves resisted most of it. The two of them quickly backed off after seeing that their attacks didn't work. Gizmo stood back up, and tried to remember if he had any weaknesses or not from the battle they had on Levarious.

"Guys, listen up," Ciel said. "Like me, Marz has the ability to affect space, only while I can travel to different dimensions, he can affect space in this one, in numerous ways."

As the others battled without him, Burst merely lit himself on and off, as if trying to accomplish something. ''Come on! Now's not the time to be stubborn!'' he thought to himself. A smug voice in his head replied, ''Don't be hasty. Now is hardly the time.'' Having given up on his attempts, Burst rocketed himself forward in a jet of flame headed straight at Marz. Then he suddenly found himself on the other side of Marz, as if he had missed completely.

"You thought that would work?" Marz said to Burst, "You're pretty naive aren't you?"

Burst turned around and snickered. "Naive, maybe. Overconfident, maybe. Willing to let you and your master V prance around the multiverse like you own the place... never!" Suddenly, Burst exploded in a violent inferno, leaving behind a hedgehog of pure flame. He stood tall as his fiery spines danced in the light breeze. In a voice unlike Burst's he said, "You get your sorry ass out of my dimension right now before I trap you between Zones!" In his head, Burst thought to this new form that had taken control, 'Bout time, Blaze.

As Burst transformed, Splice looked over at Ciel with a worried expression. "How exactly do we fight this guy, then? He's distorting space to avoid our attacks!" He asked, quietly.

"I'm trying to figure out a strategy," Beat said, "although it might take a while. I still don't know everything he can do."

"Flashy," Marz said, "and you say you're going to trap me, of all people, between zones. Please. I can do a lot more than distort space."

This new "Blaze" crossed his arms and chuckled, "Yes, and I can do more than anything you've seen these others do, but you don't see me bragging about it. I know you are powerful. We all do. You don't have to proclaim it to the world."

"We can stand here talking each other to death, or we can fight for this world. Which would you rather do?" Marz crossed his arms, his expression growing bored.

"I quite enjoy this world, as does the boy called Burst and his friends," Blaze explained, "I think I'll go with the latter."

In response, Marz's hands emitting purple energy. He uncrossed them, and held them at his sides. He was ready for battle.

The fires of Blaze's body burned brightly as he took a fighting stance. "Make your move," he said, "You'll need all the initiative you can get."

"Sorry, but that's not my style," Marz replied. "Besides, you've seen what I can do. Let's see what new powers you've got, unless your new form's just for show."

"Hey, Splice, Smash, Banzai," Beat said, "I got an idea. Marz can use space to avoid our attacks one on one, right? But, what if we all attacked at the same time?"

"We have to be careful doing that." Smash said. "Though if we all hit him, it would overwhelm him, but we have to make sure he has no way of avoiding ALL of our attacks. If we're not careful, he could move just one time and we'll all stumble over eachother." He said.

"Or worse: He could redirect our attacks at eachother," Ciel said, butting in. "We have to catch him off guard, although I don't have to tell you that's easier said than done."

Ignoring Beat's suggestion, Blaze called forth several pillars of fire, incinerating whatever was left of the soldiers. He then moved his arm towards the satellite and said, "You wouldn't mind if I played with your new toy, would you?"

"I think we should let Burst handle this for now, and then jump in when the time is right." Violet whispered, watching them with wide eyes.

"Go ahead and try. I assure you, it won't be so easy to destroy." As he spoke, the pillars of flame vanished into distortions of space. "It's not my style, but I'll go ahead anyway." He waved his hand, and hundreds of purple-white energy arrows shot out of the space surrounding Blaze, all of them heading directly for the hedgehog at blinding speed.

As the arrows seemed to make contact, Blaze merely disappeared in a wisp of flame. "You're quick," he admitted upon reappearing above the satellite, "But quick doesn't get you everything!" With a swing of his arm, the ground beneath the satellite began to burn; first through the grass, then the earth itself. Soon there would be a fissure beneath the satellite which would drag it to the depths of Mobius.

Marz tapped his head wit his finger. "Forgotten what I can do already huh?" Suddenly, Blaze found himself standing atop nothing. "Looking for that?" He pointed far off into the distance, where the faint silhouette of the satellite could be seen. "It's time I stopped playing around. Vanishing won't help you in a fight against me." The arrows from before reappeared around Blaze, moving in with the same speed as before.

"We have to distract him!" Kleft said.

Blaze put up a fire barrier, stopping the arrows for now, at least. He disappeared an reappeared once more, away from the arrows, and reshaped the barrier to contain each of them. "Stop trying to hit me and hit me!" he taunted.

Smash's eyebrows shot up when he heard that. "Wait a minute, I've heard that before." He said quietly. He remembered his first match in the Cosmic Championship, Arc Aungel had said those exact same words to him when he wasn't showing his full strength. He shook his head, removing the thoughts from his mind to focus on the present.

"Okay," Marz said, from directly behind Blaze. He placed his hand on Blaze's shoulder. "Keep your eye on the target." Suddenly, he vanished, leaving behind dozens of arrows in his place.

When Marz made contact, Blaze became stunned. He felt immense power, and it overwhelmed him. He had underestimated this Marz, and was too astonished to react to the attack. The arrows dug into Blaze's non-physical back, something they should not have been able to do. He fell to the ground and his flames extinguished, leaving Burst in his place once more, unconscious.

"Well he's down." He looked at Burst. "All that talk, and look how easily you went down." He looked to the other heroes. "So, what now?"

Everyone's eyes widened when they saw him fall down, defeated. "We're in trouble." Splice muttered.

Rapid was then seen. "You forgot about me." He said with energy charging in his fists.

"Because you're not worth remembering," Marz said. "Look, none of you stand a ghost of a chance here. You might as well give up and wait for your impending doom."

"Now would be a good time to run, wouldn't it?" Beat suggested.

Smash was at a loss of what to do. They couldn't just abandon the mission, they would be forfeiting their whole world. But how could they defeat a person like this..? He was already feeling overwhelmed, and it was making his head hurt.

Marz stood tall and upright, looking as intimidating as he possibly could, although in truth, he had exhausted much of his power. He was tiring, and was hoping the heroes would flee the battle.

Inferna stands staring in surprise at Burst's unconscious body. Tendril, sensing her rising anger, takes several steps back, and Tsunami does the same.

Burst's body sinks into the ground, only to reappear at the feet of the heroes. "Here, take him," Marz said.

Ciel noticed something. "He's getting tired," she said.

"...No. I won't stand for this." Pearl growled in response to Beat, quivering with both fear and anger. "We can't let them take our world, our dimension, while we run and wait for death to come to us!" Without wasting another moment, she charged directly towards Marz, about ready to pummel him to death. "And I'll fight for this world until the very end!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

"P-Pearl!?" Smash gasped, seeing his sister rush past him. "W-wait, You can't...!"

Inferna's rage continues to rise. Soon, she is glowing with a white-hot aura of flame. "You," she mutters to Marz, "You have no idea what you've just unleashed."

Great, more fighting, Marz thought. ''When is he going to show up? I don't know how much longer I'll last''. "What have I unleashed?" he taunted.

By the time he was even halfway finished his sentence, Pearl was already inches away from him. She swung a quick, hard punch towards his chest, her other arm held back behind her head to follow up with another attack.

Marz was busy focusing on Inferna's increasing power level and forgot about Pearl charging up to him. He noticed her at the last minute, and managed to create a small rift between his chest and Pearl's fist, causing the fist to reappear behind Marz; the punch went right through him. However, Pearl was close enough to see that the move had strained him slightly.

She turned her arm in the rift and hooked it around to try and punch his side, while at the same time try to kick his legs.

The rift that sucked in her arm extended enough for her to entirely pass through, which she did when she attacked him. "Why you little..." The rift had disappeared, Pearl now standing back to back with Marz. He pulled out his energy blade and attempted to stab her.

Tsunami appears beside the two and blocks Marz's attack with her own blade.

At the same time, Pearl swiftly spun out of the way and threw a punch towards his head.

"You again!" Marz said, before vanishing and reappearing some distance away.

The sound of machinery collapsing could be heard in the distance. As Beat looked toward the satellite, he saw it come crashing down. "Looks like Levi managed to sneak away and get rid of that thing," Kleft said. thumb|right|208px|The Tides are Changing!

"Finally, things are starting to look good!" Banzai said, eagerly hopping onto the battlefield alongside Tsunami. "Mind if I join?" He asked her.

Pearl chased after him, fury filling her eyes.

"Pearl's really had it." Violet commented, watching her whiz past her.

"She's got the right idea." Smash said, punching the palm of his hand. "After her! And make sure Marz goes down!" He ran after her, heading straight for Marz.

"I have a better idea," Tsunami replies. Her sword vanishes, and almost instantly, she was standing with the other heroes. "It would be better for us to remain here and let Inferna finish the job."

"All right, if you say so," Banzai said.

"Well I'm going." Violet said. "I can't let Pearl go out there like that, even if there are two others with her." She ran after the group, soon followed by Splice, Gizmo and Kitty.

Marz was looking at the now destroyed satellite. "Damn. I was so busy with these idiots I forgot about the others!" He then looked to Inferna. "So, your friends trust you enough to beat me on your own?"

Inferna is floating high above the heroes now, white flames covering her and taking on the shape of a bird. "You have injured my boyfriend," she says, "And now you will suffer my wrath. The wrath of the Fire Realm's queen!" The flames begin to expand, growing larger and larger until she has become a huge phoenix.

"This might be a problem," he said, clearly sensing inferna's power and seeing the growing group of heroes opposing him. "No matter, I'll fight to the death if I have to!" His hands began to glow even brighter, and space began to distort all around his body.

Suddenly, Inferna felt a presence with her. The voice of Blaze echoed through her head and said, "The boy will be fine, don't worry. He did, however, want me to assist you. With the aid of my flame... tear him a new one." Blaze lent his power to Inferna, causing her to burn ever brighter in the sky.

Pearl was the first to reach him. She stopped in front of him when she saw space distorting around him. Before she did anything else, she picked up a clump of dirt and threw it at him.

Tendril calls out to the heroes attacking Marz, "Guys, get out of there! You should really be over here where it's safe!"

Pearl instantly found herself with the rest of the heroes, transported by Marz. Suddenly, millions of energy arrows appeared, surrounding the heroes and forming a sphere of energy around them.



The space inside the sphere began to blur and distort as well. "Time for all of you to die!" Marz shouted, the strain of distorting so much space clearly visible on his face. The strain of the attack prevented it from firing immediately, keeping the arrows floating in the air for a few moments.

"Guys, Back me up here!" Smash immediately called out. He released a blast of energy, returning to his high tension state, and strained to bring out all of his energy at once. "URRGGHIIIII!!!" He cried out. His aura turned lime green, as did his fur. Cyan stripes appeared on his arms and legs. He then began to focus his energy outwards, trying to hold back all the arrows the best he could. Splice quickly made walls of ice to try and surround them, while Violet, Pearl, and Gizmo stayed close by them both.

Pearl looked around at all the arrows, frantically. Seeing her brother transform, she clenched both of her fists, seemingly straining to do something. It has to work...It has to work... She thought, desperately. ...Please, WORK... She began sweating bullets, but nothing was happening.

Gizmo looked around, and soon caught sight of Marz. Without knowing what else to do, he charged up his Hand Cannon and fired a larger blast of pure Chaos Energy at him.

Inferna's voice is heard from deep within the massive phoenix that she has become, "Fire Realm Secret Technique: Phoenix Drill!" she calls out. Ignoring the new landscape and the heroes that would be caught in the attack, Inferna dive bombs at Marz, spinning like a drill that would explode on contact. Tsunami manages to create a bubble of water around the heroes to protect them.

At that moment, the arrows fired at the heroes. Beat created another barrier around Tsunami's bubble, and focused all of his energy into it to shield against Marz's attacks. Meanwhile, Marz himself was too exhausted to immediately dodge Inferna's attack.'' Is this really how I'm going to go? Defeated by them? ''He closed his eyes, and attempted to create another rift to defend against Inferna, which failed. He braced himself for impact. One second passed. Two seconds passed. He opened his eyes, and saw the person he feared most in front of him, arm extended, Inferna held in place inches in front of him.

thumb|300px|right|Royally screwed.

"What is going on here?" V asked.

Inferna roars in savage fury, yelling, "Release me! I will end him!"

"No." he said. He waved his hand, and the flames that covered Inferna's body vanished, and she was flung towards the rest of the group with great force.

Inferna hits the ground hard, but immediately returns to her feet. She opens two rifts to the Fire Realm, one on either side of her, and thrusts one arm into each. Flames begin to race out of the rifts, covering her and absorbing into her body. She transforms into a dragon-like creature, then closes the rifts. Her transformation to Fire Beast Inferna is complete.

"I though you had everything under control, Marz?" V said. "As for all of you. As much as I love games, this one is growing tiresome. You're not going to give up on stopping me, are you?"

"What...does this..tell you!?" Smash strained to say through his flowing energy. "URRRRRGGGGHHIIIIIII!!!!" He released a blast of energy so large, his aura tripled in size. Nearly all the arrows around them either blew away or were completely diminished to nothing.

"Impressive. Still not a threat," V replied.

Smash gasped for breath, clutching his chest as his form reverted to his normal High Tension state, his aura fading almost entirely. He began panting heavily, feeling a sharp pain in his heart.

"Smash, Are you alright?" Violet asked, putting her hand on his shoulder."

Splice stared at V in horror. "Oh. Crap." Was all he could say. Gizmo looked over at Splice, and then at V.

"Who is that...?" He asked.

"So, you're V huh?" Banzai said.

"Yeah, t-that's him," Beat said, trembling.

Levi had returned to the group, shocked to see his arch enemy had shown himself.

"I'll be taking her," V said, slowly walking towards Ciel.

Splice stood in front of her. "No way!" He yelled. "Ciel, Get outta here!"

"But what about you guys?" she asked, visibly shaking.

"You will move out of the way if you know what's good for you," V threatened.

"Splice!" Violet cried out.

"Don't worry about us, Ciel!" Splice yelled back. "What's important is that you get outta here! There'll always be a second chance as long as you're safe!"

"Nnngh...come on..." Pearl was now visibly shaking, but rather than looking scared, she looked like she was trying to focus her energy like Smash did.

"Come," V said. Ciel suddenly found herself being dragged forward by some invisible force. She grabbed on to Splice's arm to stop herself, but she continued moving towards V.

Splice grabbed her arm back, and pulled as much as he could. He turned and tried to run away as fast as he could, holding her arm. Soon, Gizmo and Kitty came and began supporting him, along with Violet.

While they tried to save Ciel, Banzai decided to take the initiative and attack V. He built up massive amounts of Chaos energy in his hands. "Take this you monster!!" He thrust his hands forwards, and fired a massive blast of pure chaos energy.

"Hm?" V thrust his hand in the direction of the blast, and stopped it in its tracks. He then made a 'shoo-ing' motion with his hand, reflecting the blast back at Banzai, who hurriedly jumped out of the way.

As he was doing this, Smash came up from behind him and threw what was known to be his most powerful punch, "Skull Cracker", towards the back of his head.

The attack stopped inches from his head, while Smash was frozen in place. Then, Smash was blown backwards like a leaf in a powerful wind. "Were you trying something?" With one last tug, he managed to pull Ciel from Splice's grasp, causing him and the others to fall over. Ciel flew towards Marz, who caught her easily. "Take her back to my world," V ordered.

"Yes sir," Marz said, before vanishing with Ciel in his arms.

They all fell over in a big pile. "No! Ciel!!" Splice cried out helplessly. They all scrambled, trying to get back to their feet, but they were too late. By the time they regained their footing, Ciel was already gone. Meanwhile, Smash was sent tumbling backwards down a slope some distance away from the whole group. He grabbed onto the grass and managed to stop himself from going any further. The grass ripped out of the ground almost instantly, but he stopped and plopped onto his stomach. Panting heavily, his aura faded away completely, and he reverted back to his normal form.

"So," V said, "what are all of you going to do now?"

"We're gonna take you out, that's what!" Splice yelled. He began throwing several hundreds of fireballs and icicles at him as fast as he could, which was abnormally quick. Each one came almost immediately after the other. Gizmo and Kitty split up to the sides and began shooting him with their guns, hoping to overwhelm him.

None of the shots reached V. Every blast slowly disintegrated into nothing before it made contact. V began to walk slowly towards Splice, his fireballs vanishing entirely before hitting V.

Splice stopped firing, his eyes widening with shock. "Uhh...er...Uh oh."

"It's not working!" Gizmo cried out. "Levi, What do we do!?"

Splice took a few steps back. "Our attacks are too weak. Let's try something stronger!" He leaped backwards and spread his arms out beside him. "Haaa!!" His hands were engulfed in an icy aura. "Try this on for size! Glacier Storm!!" He thrust his hands forward, unleashing a powerful wind full of ice and snow. The shards of ice would burst into gigantic spiky icicles, and explode on him, meanwhile two gigantic chunks of ice formed in the sky, falling down towards him, followed by one massive chunk ready to smash him.

Rapid just watched everyone attack. He felt like his attacks wouldn't work. He shyly watched.

V extended his arm towards the ice attack, then flung it upwards. All of the ice and snow merged into one gigantic ball of ice above V's head. He smiled a sly, malicious smile, then tossed the ice ball towards Splice with great force.

Inferna breathes a jet of flame at the ball of ice in an attempt to melt it. She seems to have calmed down a bit now that Marz is gone.

The ice suddenly explodes, sending frozen shards out in all directions. V is nowhere to be seen.

Meanwhile, from the back of the party, the spirit of Blaze watched over Burst's unconscious body. He did what he could to help defend against the ice shards, trapping as many as he could in fire barriers. "It's no use! V is too powerful," he called out, "There's no way we can defeat him now, not in this state. We have to flee to some place safe while there's still a chance."

"But that would mean abandoning our world! We can't just leave!" Banzai called out.

"Would you rather die and leave no one here to defend it?" Levi replied, "He's right, we need to get out of here."

Inferna reverts back to normal. "I agree," She replies, "We can hide out in another realm until we're ready to face him again. Any objections to staying in the Fire Realm?"

"That would be nice," Kleft said.

"You might want to keep your eye on the target," said a voice from behind Inferna. V was standing back-to-back behind her, arms folded. "So, this Fire Realm. Would you mind telling me more about it? I may head for there in the future."

Tsunami vanishes, instantly reappearing beside V, bringing her lightning-laced sword down on him from above.

V didn't move a muscle. The sword stops inches above his head, and Tsunami is frozen in place. The electricity running through the sword slowly fizzles out, and the sword starts to erode into dust. "And, what were you planning to do with that?" V asked. "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt a conversation?"

This close to V, Tsunami can feel the power radiating from him. Her aggression subsides, replaced by the same lust for power that brought her to join Orochimaru. She remains silent.

Smash made it back up the hill. "We can't win this battle..." He said to himself. "We have..to pull back." Once everyone else came into view, he immediately noticed something wrong. No...They got Ciel!

Splice was panting heavily now as well. That attack took a lot out of him. ''And he wasn't even scratched...! We really do have to run...But where?''

Seeing that V seems distracted by Tsunami, Inferna runs over to the other heroes. As if she had read Splice's mind, she says, "We can go to my realm. To the Fire Realm."

"V's already aware that we planned to head there." Gizmo said, looking worried. "Won't he follow us?"

"True," Tendril replies, "What about my Shadow Realm?"

Smash stopped next to them. "Round everyone up. We're getting out of here." He ordered. "And hurry."

"Somebody get Burst," Blaze called out as he surrounded the heroes with a fire barrier, trying to buy them as much time as possible.

"I've got him," Inferna says, picking up Burst.

Splice and Violet came through the fire barrier, Splice forcing his way through with his own fire powers. "Is that everyone?" Smash asked, looking around. Gizmo and Kitty were already there, and Pearl was just barely inside the barrier, still concentrating.

"I'm here," Beat said, with Banzai following close behind.

"You can run," V's voice echoed in the air, "but as long as I have Ciel, no dimension is safe."

Meanwhile, outside the barrier, V was confronting Tsunami. "Do you plan to fight me? Someone as smart as you should know that's suicidal." Tsunami was still paralyzed by V, so she could not move as he placed his index finger on her forehead. "Water Realm, Fire Realm, Shadow Realm....so many potential worlds. And you've just given me all the info I need."

"Will Tsunami be alright out there?" Gizmo asked, looking worried.

"I don't know." Smash said. "But we don't have much time...Without Ciel, the places we can go are very limited. You say elemental realms, V already knows about them. Whether he'll follow us or not, We don't know." He looked over at Inferna, and stared at her for a few seconds. "...Take us to the Fire Realm." He suddenly said.

"Wait, didn't you say...?" Splice started to ask. Smash gave him a look, sort of telling him that everything will be alright.

Inferna nods and opens a rift to the Fire Realm. Tendril enters the realm, while Inferna waits until everyone has passed through. Tsunami seems to enjoy the power that she feels at V's touch. "Power....." she mutters, "So much power.......More than Orochimaru could offer....."

"Smart girl. You might want to stay out of my way. I've got other worlds to take." He took a few steps back, and stomped the ground. Suddenly, glowing green circuitry started growing out of the area he stomped, enveloping the ground with an intricate maze of circuits.

Smash noticed the green circuitry growing at the corner of his eye. "Hurry, Get in there!" He yelled. He and his group rushed inside, though he had to grab Pearl and pull her in.

Once the other heroes are inside, Inferna rushes through the rift, bringing Burst with her, and closes the rift from the inside.

"This world...is mine," V said, then laughed malevolently.

Part 4: The Fire Realm
Once the portal was closed, Smash turned to look at the group. "I don't think we can stay here. V already knows we're here. If he follows us, We're in serious trouble." He said, somewhat rushed. "I had a feeling we might need to use this, so I brought it with me while I was upstairs back at my house." He pulled out a rather fancy looking letter. Only a few people would recognize it to be the letter of invitation to the World Hero Tournament.

"You still have that?" Banzai said, surprised to see the supernatural letter.

"Yep. After the whole thing with Nusquam, or whatever his name was, I knew I had to hang onto it." Smash answered.

"Well, it's fairly difficult to enter this realm from the outside," Inferna says, "The only way I know of is to have me or one of the Fire Realm's soldiers open a rift. We should be alright for a while."

"But V does have Ciel, who can travel through dimensions like its nothing," Beat warned.

"Hey Smash, do you know how to use that to get where you need to go?" Banzai asked.

Smash shrugged. "All I know is that it can take us to the "Betwixt and Between", if that's how you say it. I can use it to get there."

As the rift closed behind them, Burst woke up in Inferna's arms. "Wuh... What happened?" he asked in a daze. "The Fire Realm... what're we doing here. Did... did I get him? Did we win?"

"Yeah, everything went great," Banzai said sarcastically.

"Unfortunately not." Violet sighed. "We had to run..."

"We...lost," Beat said, "badly. We were no match. Mobius belongs to V now, for the time being."

Beat got back to the subject of the letter. "I'm not sure if they'll help us this time..." he trailed off, deep in thought.

"Whether they help us or not, that's not the reason I wanted to go here." Smash said. "The real reason is because as far as we know, V doesn't know about this place. I wanted to come to the fire realm so he wouldn't see us going there. Just to buy us some more time. And besides, If there was a crazy overlord taking over all the dimensions, Don't you think they'd at least try to pitch in? I mean, their dimension could fall victim to his attacks, too."

"But they're dimension....its not really a dimension is it? I mean, they're the gods of order and chaos. They live in like this...higher...plane of existence...thing. Last time they only helped because the threat came from their world, and it was their responsibility. For all we know this whole thing might just be another good/evil cycle, y'know what I mean? Anyway, we can at lest hide out there for a while, even if they don't help."

"It's possible they won't help, yes, but if V is able to get there, There will be trouble." Smash said. "Either way, We should be safe there. At least we'll be welcomed, I think."

A voice is heard coming towards the heroes, "What's going on over here? Visitors to the Fire Realm?" The voice belongs to what looks like a high-ranking soldier approaching the group.

"Speaking of welcomings," Splice said, looking towards the soldier. "We got company."

"Don't worry about me," the soldier replies, "I'm on your side. You've brought quite a few guests with you, milady." Inferna steps forward and answers, "We needed somewhere to go. Mobius has kind of been taken over."

"Yeah, we're in a bit of a pickle." Violet added. "Have you heard of V?"

"We going to the palace Inferna?" Burst asked while slowly walking to Inferna's side. From the front of the group, the other were able to notice a large, glowing scar on his back.

"I haven't heard of this V," the soldier replies, "And if we are going to a city, it will not be the same one you visited last time."

"Well, even if you guys haven't heard, you can still prepare for when he comes," Beat said.

"Actually, captain, there is something you could do to help us out," Inferna tells the soldier, "I know they're difficult to find sometimes, but if you could get the Blaze Elites over here, they might be of some help. And could you get a hold of the Scarlet Surfers while you're at it?" The soldier nods and replies, "Right away, milady." He turns and runs off.

"The wha?" Banzai asked, confused.

"The Blaze Elites and the Scarlet Surfers," Inferna replies, "Two of the toughest branches of the Fire Realm military. Those guys are scary good. They could really help us reclaim Mobius."

"That sounds great," Beat added.

"But then what?" Levi asked, "V's still at large, and he can probably just send stronger troops to reclaim Mobius again. Plus,he's got Ciel, meaning no world is safe from him."

"I still get the feeling that even with a whole army by our side, it won't be enough." Smash said, somewhat quietly.

"What does he want? Is he just taking over worlds for fun?" Banzai asked.

"No, he has a higher goal," a female voice rang through the air, strangely familiar.

"Ciel?" Kleft asked.

"Yes. I'll make this as brief as possible, since I don't have much time. While I'm here, I'm going to see what I can find out about V and his goals. I heard some guys mentioning 'W', whatever that means, and I overheard V talking about 'prime'. That's all I know now. I'll see if I can find anything, and tell you guys when I get....." her voice suddenly trailed off.

After thinking a moment, Tendril speaks up, "I'll meet you guys back on Mobius, alright? I'm gonna see if I can get the Shadow Realm's military in this. And maybe I'll see if I can contact the other Elemental Realms. If V wants dimensions, let's give him an inter-dimensional war." He opens a rift to the Shadow Realm and enters it, closing it behind him.

Smash waved as Tendril left. "Well, multiple armies by our sides actually sounds reassuring." He said.

"So, first thing's first," Beat said, "we should try to reclaim Mobius. I mean, we can't just let V have it. If he comes back, we can go back and fight him off again. Teach him that he cannot underestimate our world."

"And then what?" Kleft asked.

"Well, we can free other dimensions," Levi added, "like mine. Then we can get back my resistance HQ, increase our forces, and use my world's technology."

"That would definitely be a good idea," Inferna agrees.

"Yeah, I agree." Smash said.

"If this world's army's gonna help us, then Mobius is as good as ours! For the time being at least," Banzai said.

"You bet it is," Inferna nods.

"So, where do we go no--holy crap Burst, what happened to your back?" Banzai said.

Burst jumped when he heard his name, having been paying attention to Inferna and the soldier, and began spinning like a foll trying to get a look at his back. "What?! What is it? What's wrong with my back?" he asked frantically.

The sudden commotion attracted most of everyone's attention. Violet gasped when she saw the scar, looking both really worried and almost grossed out.

"That big glowing scar. What is that?" Beat asked.

Now that she can see Burst's back, she notices the scar as well. She puts a hand to it to see if she can sense any energy attached to it.

Burst stood still as Inferna check out his scar. "Is it bad?" he asked with concern.

"Do you know what it is?" Banzai asked.

"I have no clue what it could be," Inferna replies, worriedly, "But, I'm sure it's not fatal. If it were, you probably would have already noticed it, right?" She tries to sound confident, so Burst wouldn't be as worried, but she also seems to be trying to convince herself that it's nothing.

Gizmo walked next to her and examined it himself. "Hmm...Could it be...-"

"Guys, I don't mean to sound pushy," Levi started, "but it's imperative that we reclaim Mobius and my world before V finishes that satellite device. Miss Inferna, forgive me if this sounds insulting...or stupid.....but does this world have any technology?"

"You're right." Gizmo said, looking away from the scar. He looked over towards Inferna, waiting for her answer.

"We don't have the most sophisticated machinery," Inferna answers, "But we've got some technology."

Gizmo looked over at Levi, with a hint of curiosity in his eyes. "What were you planning to do, exactly?" He asked.

"I'm a technopath. If I had even a little bit of technology, I can remodel it into something else, something useful, like so..." He pulled out a small metal cube, and held it in his palm. Levi's hand began to glow, and the cube reshaped itself into a walkie-talkie like device.

Burst observed Levi, hoping that the scar was indeed nonfatal. You have any idea what this is? he thought to Blaze. I'm not quite sure, but I think is has to do with Marz, Blaze replied, ''There's nothing we can do about it now, though, so I suggest focusing on helping your friends. ''Burst did just that. "Anything I can do?" he asked Inferna.

Inferna tries to think of something for Burst to do.

"With this device, I can communicate with the people back in my dimension. If I had a little more technology, I might be able to rewire it into some kind of monitor, so we can see what's happening on Mobius," Levi explained.

"Wow." Gizmo said in amazement. "It looks like my knowledge isn't needed here!"

"So, what can we do in the meantime?" Splice asked, aiming the question at everyone.

Inferna speaks up, "Well, if I remember correctly, there should be a small mining town just a few minutes' walk from here. We could hang out there until everything's ready."

Gizmo's eyes lit up when he heard "Mining Town".

"Okay, sure." Smash said. "Let's head over there."

"Alright, follow me peoplez!" Inferna turns and begins walking. The group followed in tow.

Soon, a line of buildings can be seen in the distance. As they grow close, they can see that the town is made up simply of several granite buildings surrounding a large pool of lava. Several children from the town run up to the group and happily greet them.

Beat and Banzai smiled as they passed the children. "Nice place you got here," Banzai said.

Several of the older Fire Beings notice the group coming toward them. They begin to whisper to one another in surprise. When they enter the town, the Fire Beings immediately drop to their knees. "Lady Pyra, it is an honor to have you here," one says, "But may I ask, what business do you have in our little town?"

"Whoa, I didn't know you were royalty," Beat said.

"Wow. Really?" Violet asked.

Inferna nods, "Queen of this Realm." She turns to the citizens, "Guys, please don't bow to me. I'm really not that special. And we just need a place to stay for a little while. Nothing too fancy, though." The people obediently rise to their feet. "As you wish, milady," the same villager answers, "You are all welcome to stay in our little mining town as long as you like."

"Thanks," Beat said. Then he turned to Inferna. "So, after we get the whole army set up, what's the plan? Just charge into Mobius?"

"That's a tough one," she replies, "The Fire Realm isn't exactly known for it's cunning battle strategy. That's the what the Water and Wind Realms are best at. But Tsunami's back with V."

"What?" Beat said, startled. "Was she captured? Or is she there by choice?"

"I can't say," she says, "V still had her paralyzed when we left, but I could see something in her eyes. A look of greed. The look of someone who lusts for power. And that close to V, I can guess that she could feel the power radiating from him."

Smash buried his face in his palm. "Just what we needed."

"If Tsunami's with him, we're in for some trouble..." Gizmo said, looking worried.

"*Sigh*. Well we'll just have to assume she's on his side for now. Anyways, can everyone here open a portal back to Mobius, or will you have to transport the whole army by yourself?"

"Not everybody, just me and the Blaze Elites. But it doesn't really matter, it doesn't matter how many people go through, it always uses the same amount of energy to open. Once open it stays that way until closed."

"That's good to know. Now, we should really get some rest, we've been in enough battles today. Hey, will Burst be alright?"

"He should be fine. And even if the wound won't heal on it's own, the Blaze Elites have a very skilled medic."

"Great. Now, where are we going to stay?"

"Luckily for us, the peoplez of this town expected that lost travelers may find there way here, so they built a little hotel over here." she begins walking toward a larger building on the outskirts of town, the furthest building from the lava lake. One of the people of the town follows her and say, "Milady, you don't have to lower yourself to sleeping in a hotel." To which Inferna replies, "Would you rather me lower myself further and take one of your homes?" The man realizes that she's right and leaves. The others follow Inferna to the hotel.

"That was a bit harsh," Banzai said.

"I guess so," she replies, "But I tell them all the time that I don't deserve the kind of pampered life they're trying to give me. So I'm their queen, so what? I'm not all that important. I just get annoyed when they ignore the fact that I don't like the royal treatment."

"I guess so," Beat said. "Although it would've been cool to live in a palace," he joked.

"I know, right?" Splice agreed, laughing a bit. "I'd love to see a big ol' fiery palace, too."

Burst approached the front of the group again, after lagging behind only slightly, and looked back and forth at the hotel. "This place looks pretty sweet," he whistled, "It's no palace, but still pretty sweet." It clearly didn't take much to impress him.

"Glad you like it," Inferna replies, "Alright, peoplez. We've seen a lot of action today, so we should all get some rest. We'll head back to Mobius to face V either tomorrow or the day after. No later. Alright?"

"Got it." Answered most of everyone in Smash's group.

Gizmo looked around at everyone. "Hey, I'm gonna go take a little walk around. I'll catch you guys later, okay?" He began to walk away, with Kitty following him.

"Alright. As long as you don't go too far from the town you shouldn't get lost," Inferna replies, "Just don't get too close to the lava pit. It's very deep and very hot."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!" Gizmo called back while waving. "See ya." He headed out the door.

"I'll come with you." Levi said. "I need to collect a few things anyway." The sea serpent followed Gizmo out the door.

"Guys," Kleft said, "We should really come up with a plan if we're going to head to war."

Smash looked over and nodded. "Yes, we should." He agreed. "Okay so we're gathering up the Fire Realm's army and possibly contacting the other realms for assistance. That's good. But how exactly are we going to go about all of this? Can we really just charge into there head first and weapons swinging around?"

"Well first off, we don't know where to charge in. V's probably moved his base of operations from Green Hill," Beat said. "Also, we should have a battle strategy. We can take out V's henchmen easily, but it's the higher ups I'm worried about."

"Very true." Smash nodded. "Now, We can beat Marz, That much I know. In fact, We WOULD have beaten him if V didn't save him." He looked to the side with a slight grin. "I hadn't even realized that my usual strategy was even working against him." He looked back at the group. "Though it may not work again. And we have little to no info on the rest of the elites he's got. We've encountered Soshiro, but we couldn't even phase him. It was more like a battle for survival rather than a battle to defeat him. We have to be very careful that we don't run into all of them at once."

"Yeah, That would be awful." Splice shuddered. "Also, I'm worried about the rest of the guys back on Mobius. I wonder how everyone's doing back there..."

"They'll pull through, somehow." Smash said. "They'll just have to sit tight until we can save them." He folded his arms and began to think for a bit. "..We can have one of the armies take care of the henchmen for us, just to get them out of the way, and have another army back us up when we face the higher ups....We'll also need someone with some kind of healing power. I don't feel comfortable knowing that once you're down, you're down. And..hmm...What else...?"

"I can regenerate," Kleft said, "but that won't really help you guys."

"I've kinda learned how to refresh myself as well, but like you said, it won't help anyone else." Smash said with a frown.

"Well, the best way to not go down is to...well...not go down I guess, until we get a medic. We need to go full force during this attack, prepare for every possibility. V probably expects us to try to take Mobius back, and will probably have powerful forces stationed there."

"But we still don't know where they could be stationed," Kleft added.

"Exactly." Smash said.

"Maybe I can help with that," said the sea-dragon Levi, sweating like a dog due to the heat of the fire realm. "I couldn't bear the heat out there, so I gathered what I could and came back."

"Welcome back." Splice waved.

"On the subject of medics, There's a little girl I know who's a really good healer." Violet spoke up. "Bad thing is, she's back on Mobius..."

"I'd hate to bring Crystal into this anyway." Smash said. "But everyone's going to have to fight for their lives...It's possible that when we get there, we can gather up the rest of our friends from Green Flower City, but we won't know if it's even safe to do that."

"We're going to save the world, aren't we?" Splice asked, surprisingly firmly. "If it's dangerous to try and gather up the rest of our friends, we'll just have to brave that danger! We can't save the world if we can't even save a few people!"

"Well, as much as I hate to admit it, they're bound to get caught up in this anyway. I know my friends back on Mobius are gonna fight, and if your friends can help us win, I don't see why they shouldn't. Nobody is safe on Mobius as long as V is there," Beat explained.

"Exactly my point." Splice said. "That's why we all need to work together."

Smash frowned. "You're right." He said. "Still, we should be careful. I don't want anything happening to the younger ones." He looked over at Levi. "But now that I think about it. Levi, you said you could help, right?"

"Right. Turns out, due to all the volcanic activity in this world, precious gemstones are in abundance. So I rounded up a few diamonds and other materials, and combined them with my previous invention, to make this." Levi pulled out a small cylindrical device from his pocket.

"Ooh. Nice." Splice said, looking interested.

"What's it do again?" Violet asked.

Levi pressed a tiny button on the side, and the device grew to the size of a small television, one side opening to reveal a diamond monitor. On the screen was the now devastated Green Hill Zone, covered with glowing circuit designs. "This will allow us to view what's going on at Mobius. While we were there I made sure to plant a few access points around. By connecting to those points, I can view everything within a 5 km radius."

"I see-Whoa." Smash's expression immediately turned to a disturbed and concerned look. "That's..Green Hill Zone."

"Or at least what's left of it." Splice said, looking shocked. "This is awful.."

"Levi, Did you happen to plant one in Green Flower City?" Smash asked.

"Well...I did...plant one in your house, although I wasn't sure how you'd take that so I didn't mention it."

"Well at least it's there," Banzai suddenly cut in. "Can you check the situation?"

"On my house?" Smash asked, raising both of his eyebrows. "Well, That's actually kinda convenient. Most of my friends live near me, so we should be able to see what's going on around there."

The view suddenly switched to above Smash's house. It went higher and higher, until his entire street was visible. V's soldiers patrolled the streets, the people living there cowering inside their houses as they walked past. The familiar circuit design ran along the ground, slowly but gradually getting brighter.

Smash examined the whole place closely, and growled slightly. "They've got the whole place guarded, it seems. Not too much damage in general, but, that's probably because nobody stood up to them.."

"Time is of great importance here guys," Levi reminded everyone, "We should go as soon as everything's in order. Everyone agrees? Also, to be able to form effective strategies, we need to know what everyone can do."

Smash stepped back from the screen. "Right, right. Of course." He said, getting back on topic. "When it comes to close range combat, I'm your man. And Pearl is about right behind me in terms of skill." He said. ''Come to think of it, Where is she? She's been awfully quiet since we got here... ''He thought, looking around.

"I'm good with both fire and ice elements, and I'm pretty light on my feet." Splice said.

"I can manipulate drive energy in the form of platforms, energy blasts and barriers, among other things," Beat said.

"Energy blasts and chaos powers are my thing," Banzai began, "also I'm a pretty strong guy, and my staff's heavy enough to crack some skulls."

"Uhh...umm...I just fight." Violet said with a shrug. She knew most of the people around her had some sort of strange powers, and she wasn't even close to being a good or strong a fighter as Smash.

"Same here," Kleft said, "although I've got a really tough body. Most things can't scratch me. Plus, I can do this." He raised his arm out in front of him, and suddenly, several sharp spikes grew out of his arm.

"Hey, where's Burst in all this discussion?" Banzai inquired.

While the heroes were discussing their plans, a strange figure stood on the top of a tall hill, overlooking the small village. "Now listen Kenkaku," a voice said, "your orders a clear. I want you to engage them, and measure their abilities. Once that's done you are to report back to my headquarters and summarize their abilities in a report. Understand?

"Got it," Kenkaku said, and lowered his top hat over his eyes, then vanished.

Back at the hotel, the heroes were still discussing their plans. After a while, Banzai grew bored of the discussions and peered out a window. He was viewing the landscape of the world, although past the village the only thing he could see were plains of molten lava. He then noticed a feather drift into the room. That's odd, he thought, this is a dove feather. How would a dove survive in this place?

"What's that weird energy?" Beat broke off from the discussion. He sensed something was wrong.

"..Yeah, I feel it too." Pearl suddenly spoke up from the corner. She walked towards the rest of the group, looking troubled.

Smash looked around the room, looking rather concerned. "Weird Energy..? Hmm...This isn't a good sign." His gaze slowly moved towards the window where Banzai was.

Gizmo then came back into the hotel, holding a rather stuffed back over his shoulder. "Hey guys! I'm back. MAN it's hot out there!" He said. Kitty was on his shoulder, fanning himself rapidly. "I'm gonna go up into my room for a bi--why is everyone staring at me like that?"

Suddenly, the feather in front of Banzai transformed into a top-hat in a small puff of smoke. The effect was so comical, Banzai could literally hear circus music in his head. It wasn't so funny when the hat started to levitate in the air. "What...the...heck?" he stared, dumbfounded.

The sudden transformation of the feather got nearly everyone's attention. Gizmo looked startled, as he was the closest one to it besides Banzai. "What on earth!?" He jumped back.

"Wait what?" Smash leaned closer, squinting his eyes in confusion. "What the...crap..?"

"It's a top hat..." Splice said, looking puzzled. "...At least it doesn't have a tongue sticking out of it."

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing, Splice." Gizmo said, backing away as it started floating.

Banzai made a strong leap away from the hat and landed on the other side of the room next to the others.

Suddenly, the top hat turned towards them, so that the hole was facing the heroes. Then it started to grow. It grew and grew until the sides of its rim were touching the floor and the roof simultaneously. Then, out of nowhere, a shower of razor sharp cards shot out of the hat.

Smash watched, highly disturbed as it started to grow. "Guys, Move. I don't like where this is going." He said. Gizmo had already backed up against the wall to it's side. It wasn't too much longer before that when the cards came flying at them. "GET OUTTA THE WAY!!" Smash yelled as he dove to the side. Violet and Pearl cried out as they dove under the table, while Splice ran out of the way. From the spot he chose to stand in, he tried to freeze up the whole the cards were coming out of to stop them.

Banzai and Beat both jumped out of the way of the incoming volley of cards, the latter who tried to trap the cards in a force field, only to have them tear through.

"What's up guys?" A voice rang through the air. The top hat started spinning, then shrank, and finally vanished into a puff of smoke. Standing in its place was an otter shrouded in a black cloak. "Name's Kenkaku. How you doin'?"

"One of V's henchmen, I see." Smash growled lowly. "Some nerve to ask us how we're doing after freaking the heck outta us."

Inferna watches Kenkaku carefully. Her only response is, "And just how did you enter my realm?"

"Same way we've been getting to other dimensions," he replied, and tossed a playing card towards Inferna.

She snaps her fingers, causing a small flame to ignite on her index finger. She sidesteps the card, allowing it to pass over the flame and ignite. "This realm is much more secure than most," she says, "The only way in would be for me or one of my soldiers to open a rift. Unless....." her eyes widen, "Then Tsunami really has joined them. The only other way to enter would be to pass through one of the other Elemental Realms. One of which belongs to her."

Kenkaku laughed, which was an unnerving sound. "I don't know who this Tsunami person is. You know that girl, Ciel? Wanna know why she's so powerful? It's because she can literally go anywhere she wants, regardless of dimensional restraints. With her in V's control..."

"No dimension is safe," Beat finished. "Well...that really sucks."

"Dang it, they've already started using her power." Splice pounded his hand, angrily. "Are you here to try and finish us off!?"

"No, that's not it." Smash said, staring at Kenkaku intently.

Burst silently walked into the doorway of the room, looking rather dozy. "What is all the racket about?" he asked with a slight bit of irritation in his voice.

"Burst, careful!" Violet called out. "One of V's minions found us!"

Kenkaku extended his hand, and a magician's cane appeared in his grip. "As to why I'm here...I prefer to keep things on a need-to-know basis." He then took off his top hat, and tossed it like a Frisbee towards the group. Once it was close enough, it created a massive pink explosion, destroying the hotel room.

Banzai quickly hopped out the window to avoid the attack, while Beat, Kleft and Levi followed suit.

Gizmo, being close to the door already, dashed out as quickly as possible. Splice leaped out the nearest window. Pearl and Violet were still taking cover under the table, and ended up turning it over on it's side to shield them.

Instead of fleeing with the others, Inferna unleashes her own blast of flame to block the explosion and give the others more time to escape.

Smash stood in front of the overturned table and began forcing his energy outward, trying to hold the blast backwards. "Go! Now!" He called out to whoever was still inside the hotel, mainly referring to Pearl and Violet.

During the commotion, what Inferna didn't notice was the small playing card sailing past her head. One behind her, the card exploded in another blast of energy.

The blast created a bright flash, but once it had cleared Burst was standing in between Inferna and the card. He had his back to the explosion, which wasn't the best idea due to his wound, and his arms were spread to block as much as possible. With a painful expression on his face he said, "Alright... Somebody give me a reason not to tear this guy apart."

Pearl and Violet took the chance to rush behind Smash and escape the hotel.

"You think those two can handle him by themselves?" Banzai asked.

"Well, considering the fact that, even working together, we haven't beat any of V's henchmen before, I'm not so sure," he replied.

Meanwhile, back in the hotel room, Kenkaku was facing off against Inferna and Burst. He span his cane expertly in his right index and middle fingers. "That is, if you do that before I do it to you," he said, in response to Burst's statement. "But, if we're going to do this, we should at least...make some space." His top hat grew until it was as wide as his body. Then, it fell to the ground, covering Kenkaku in the process, and revealing a card attached to the top of it, which was glowing purple with explosive energy.

Inferna is about to run, but stops herself, thinking, ''No, I can't leave the Fire Beings in here. Most of them have never fought anybody. Once the Elites get here I can run all I want, but until then....''Inferna runs from the room and starts getting all of the civilians out of the building so they aren't hit by the blast.

Burst needed to act fast. He saw Inferna leave the room after the others, and Kenkaku's card on the ground. Blaze, I'm gonna need your help on this one, he thought to his demon companion. As his body became engulfed in flames he dove for the hat, shielding its surroundings from the blast with his protected self.

The blast was large enough and strong enough to demolish most of the hotel, but Burst's shielding managed to contain most of it, destroying the entire room instead. When the explosion cleared, Kenkaku was nowhere to be seen.

Outside of the building, Kenkaku saw the hotel shake from his attack, but it wasn't destroyed. "Interesting," he said. He waved his cane, and it transformed into a broadsword. He tossed it at the building, and as it sailed through the air, it grew in size. When it reached the building, it was large enough to pierce through the hotel, with both ends sticking out. Kenkaku proceeded to create more swords, and tossed them all at the hotel, skewering it like a box at a magic show.

As the building was torn to shreds, Burst merely stood in it's wreckage. When the floor collapsed beneath him, he floated. His entire body was coated in metal and flames raced around his limbs. The glowing scar was still visible on his back, now clearly larger. Though he seemed well off, there was nothing but worry in his mind. ''What's going on? Why didn't you take over?'' he thought to Blaze with urgency. ''I... I tried. I don't know why it didn't work. You'll just have to stand for Nova mode until I can figure out what's wrong.'' Burst stared down Kenkaku amongst the dust and debris, waiting for him to make another move.

Kenkaku was about to toss another sword at the building, when he was hit by an energy blast from behind. Banzai stood behind him, hand glowing from the blast he just shot. "Why are you destroying the building? I thought we were your targets!"

"Sorry, I got sidetracked," he replied, innocently, and threw the blade at Banzai. Banzai stood his ground, held his staff tightly, and whacked the blade like a baseball, shattering it. "That is one strong staff," Kenkaku said, feigning amazement.

"Yeah, and I'm one pissed off hedgehog." The comment came from Burst, who had used Banzai's distraction as a means of getting closer to Kenkaku. With a thrust of his arm he shot a powerful jet of flame, capable of melting even the most dense metals.

Banzai unleashed a volley of energy blasts at Kenkaku from the front, while Burst attacked him from the back. Suddenly, two massive cards appeared on either side of him: the 10 of diamonds and 10 of spades. Both cards blocked the attacks completely, without getting a single mark on them. "That all?" he asked casually.

A sharp blade of metal suddenly extended from Burst's forearm, which he used to slice the card in two. "What? Were you expecting a magic show?" he joked.

But Kenkaku wasn't there. Suddenly, the two cards rose into the air, and fired off hundreds of blades in the shape of their suits. The diamonds homed in on Banzai, while the spades homed onto Burst.

Banzai tried deflecting them with an explosive wave of chaos energy, but several of them shot through the blast and cut him in several places.

Another blade extended from Burst's other arm and the two were set ablaze. He flew up into the air knocking the spades out of the sky.

The spades simply kept coming. Every time he deflected one, it would spin in the air for a few seconds before charging back at him. Banzai was spinning his staff rapidly, trying to deflect as many diamonds as possible, but every so often one slips through and slices him. "Any...ideas?" he asked Burst.

Suddenly, two transparent blue orbs formed around Banzai and Burst. The projectiles bounced off the barriers, unable to get through, yet they persisted. "Hey Levi, can you do something?" Beat asked, trying to sustain the force-fields. Levi the sea-dragon took out a pistol from his side. "We'll see," was his reply. He raised his weapon, and let go 20 shots of red energy bullets. Every shot was right on target, incinerating all of the diamonds and spades attacking Banzai and Burst. Beat released the barriers soon after. "Whew, that was close," he said.

Inferna has just finished evacuating the town and turned to see Burst and Banzai under attack. When she reaches the site, she finds that she's too late to help them. "Are you guys alright?" she asks worriedly.

Smash looked around the area. "Where did he go..?"

Gizmo took the bag off his shoulder and handed it to Kitty. "Kitty, Take this bag and get somewhere safe." He said. Kitty nodded and grabbed the bag. When Gizmo let go of it, Kitty immediately dropped down until the bag hit the ground. He strained to hold it up, and ended up just dragging it away. "Be careful!" Gizmo turned to look for Kenkaku.

Burst was distracted by his own efforts to fully notice what had just happened. He frantically looked back and forth for the enemy without even a thanks to Levi and Beat. The blades on his arms retracted and their fire spread back to the rest of his body.

"He's still here," Beat warned, "I can feel it."

Levi quickly walked over to the remains of the hotel. He sifted through the rubble, looking for any parts he may use for his inventions.

"Looking for me?" Kenkaku said, perched on top of a nearby building.

"Is now really the time for that?" Kleft asked in disbelief.

Smash immediately whirled around to look at him. This guy has nerve. He thought. ''That posture, that tone of voice. He just destroyed our entire hotel, and he's talking all like we're his best friends or something!'' Smash clenched his fists tightly, but knew better than to make a move so soon. Kenkaku had the higher ground, and anything he did could be easily countered. He tried to think of a plan as he looked around at the group, quickly trying to make sure everyone was there and okay.

"Are you alright? You seem tense." The voice came from a second Kenkaku, standing atop another building.

"You guys should just relax and enjoy a little but of magic," a third Kenkaku said from a different building.

Smash immediately looked towards the second Kenkaku, then the third. Upon realizing that he was splitting into multiple copies of himself, he let out an annoyed groan and buried his face in his palm. "Oh, not again...There'll never be a time when people stop duplicating themselves against me." He grumbled to himself. Splice, Gizmo, and the rest of Smash's group gathered around him, getting themselves ready for battle.

The Kenkaku's all tossed several cards towards the heroes, each card exploding on contact.

Splice stepped in front of the group and thrust both of his hands out towards the oncoming cards. Flames erupted from his palms like a couple of flame throwers, detonating the cards before they could reach the group. Gizmo aimed his Hand Cannon for one of the Kenkaku's and fired. He quickly aimed for the next one and shot at him, soon doing the same for the third.

Burst flew into the sky enraged. He shot a blast of flame from each hand at at two of the Kenkaku's and flew at the third one in a spindash.

Two of the Kenkaku's vanished in a puff of smoke. The third one jumped high into the sky, above the heroes. "Try this: Sword Shower!" He then started spinning, and gained velocity until he was nothing more than a blur. Suddenly, dozens of glints of light appeared around him. Closer inspection revealed that they were swords, steadily growing as they reached the ground.

"Beat!" Smash called out as he looked up at the swords coming down at them. Splice and Gizmo fired at Kenkaku, hoping to reach him through his own attacks with several fireballs and icicles along with plasma blasts.

"On it!" Beat raised his hands towards the sky, and created a curving wall of energy above the group. The blades slid down the barrier and embedded themselves in the ground nearby.

"Wasn't expecting that," Kenkaku said. Suddenly, Banzai appeared above him, and struck him with his heavy staff. Ken managed to use a card to block the attack, but the force of it sent him flying towards the ground. "Guys! We've got to overwhelm him!" Banzai yelled from the air.

Inferna begins to rise into the air, flames dancing around her once more. This time, however, the flames are white hot, powered up by the intense amount of heat energy in this realm.

Ken managed a somersault in midair, and created a card below him. He landed on it, and rode it like a skate board in the air. "I don't think coming here was the best of ideas."

As the white flames begin to wrap around Inferna, she calls out to the other heroes, "You guys keep him busy while I charge and I'll finish him off once I'm ready!"

Kenkaku tilts the face of the card he's riding towards Inferna, shooting out several red diamonds at her.

Gizmo kept firing from the ground, as did Splice. Smash crouched down, holding his hands out in front of him. Pearl stepped into his hands, and he tossed her into the air towards Kenkaku. She flew just above Kenkaku, and descended towards him, ready to punch him downward to the ground.

A card appears above Ken, acting as a trampoline by bouncing Pearl away from him.

Unable to defend herself while charging power, Inferna closes her eyes and braces for impact. Suddenly, a warrior in a long, dark cloak appears in the air between Inferna and Kenkaku. With several high-speed slices, he deflects all of the diamonds with his ridiculously over-sized sword.

"Who're you supposed to be?" Kenkaku asked sarcastically. As he spoke, the deflected diamonds redirected themselves back at the two, only this time they were ignited with purple flames.

Burst flew in front of Inferna and the mysterious warrior, and blew the diamonds to the ground with an intense wave of heat, embedding them in the earth. He turned his head to the warrior and said, "Fancy meeting you again."

"Burst," the soldier replies, "Kind of figured you'd be here." He turns back to Kenkaku and says, "I am the captain of the Blaze Elites, the most skilled branch of this Realm's military."

"Looks like this just got interesting!" Kenkaku jumped off the card and landed on the ground. "V said I wasn't supposed to over do it, but what's the harm in a little fun?" Two long swords suddenly appeared in his hands.

Immediately, dozens more warriors in similar cloaks appear out of nowhere all over the small town, huge swords drawn.

Ken didn't look worried. On the contrary, he looked elated. "That's all?" he asked.

"All that can be here at the moment," the captain replies, "But you'll soon see that the Blaze Elites are not to be underestimated."

Burst couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. "Mind if I do the honors," he asked the captain.

"Very well," he replies.

With much joy, Burst raised his fist into the air. At an intentionally high volume he shouted, "Kick his ass, boys!!!"

The Elites glance at each other, unsure of this order. The captain nods and the Elites immediately vanish, reappearing around Kenkaku. Each slices at him all at once, and found that all they did was shred his hat to bits. "Up here boys," he said, riding an impossibly large top hat. From on top of it, Kenkaku slammed the hat into the ground, trapping the captains within the indestructible hat prison. "Try getting out of this one boys."

Almost right at that moment, a stream of highly compressed energy bullets shot at his back at nearly point blank range. Kitty had returned, and the gun he was holding looked much more advanced than before. He had it on rapid fire, and the recoil was blowing him back through the air, but still with precise aim on his target.

Gizmo stood back. With a few clicking sounds coming from the inside of his Hand cannon, he began to charge the weapon with energy beside Inferna. Splice made a running jump to the top of the hat and came at Kenkaku with a flying kick towards his chest.

Ken didn't sense Kitty flying behind him, and took the full brunt of the shots. He was slightly disoriented after that, and took Splice's kick right in the chest. "Cheap...shot!" He shouted.

By now, Inferna is high above them, surrounded in another massive phoenix, this time white hot. Because of the excess heat in this realm, she was able to charge up power much more quickly. "Get away!" she calls to the other heroes.

Splice performed a backflip the moment he touched the ground, trying to follow up with a kick to Kenkaku's chin as he fell off the hat. Kitty began to charge his gun with energy, and soon fired a larger bullet of energy towards the back of Kenkaku's head. Gizmo fired a much larger plasma blast, about as big as Kenkaku's whole body, heading right towards him at an alarming rate.

Pearl, Smash and Violet did as they were told and backed away from the hat.

"Enough of this!" Kenkaku did a somersault in midair until he was floating upright in the air. "Try this: Fusillade!" He encased himself inside of a white-pink energy ball. The energy blasts bounced off his force-field. Then, suddenly, the air was filled with millions of fist-sized energy blasts like some sort of bullet-hell game.

Kitty yelped and flew away, trying to get away from all the blasts. Splice ran back towards Gizmo and held his hands up, creating a barrier of fire above them. He began gathering flames from all around them to power up the barrier.

Smash let out a blast of energy, transforming into his high tension state. "Get close to me, you two!" He ordered. They wasted no time doing so. "Beat! Barrier around those who need it! URRRGHIIII!!" His aura surrounded the trio, and the blasts began to collide with a slightly rippling barrier from the aura.

"Got it!" Beat created a large barrier encompassing all those who couldn't defend themselves against the barrage of bullets. When they hit the shield, however, instead of bouncing off, the energy blasts pressed into the shield like hundreds of tiny fists trying to get through. Beat was obviously struggling to hold back the swarm of energy blasts trying to break through his shield.

And Smash, too. And the blasts pressing down on his own shield were getting way too close to his face. He was struggling even more than Beat was, but he was holding up.

Inferna shields herself with her enormous, flaming wings, hoping that the others' defenses hold up.

Instead of pressing it, the blasts broke right through Splice's flame barrier. Each one pelted him harder in the face, but he still stood up with his arms up, trying to hold them back. A large swirl of flames circled around him and shot out through his arms towards the blasts, reflecting all of the blasts within a straight stream of flames right back towards Kenkaku. He tried to gather another circle of flames to bring back up his flame barrier.

The millions energy bullets continuously rammed into the heroes barriers like many angry fists. Beat's shield was being battered, ans he began to worry about the others.

Smash was sweating bullets. "I'm not sure how much longer we can hold out..." He strained to say. Violet was now rather scared.

Pearl closed her eyes, trying to bring out her energy again. "Come on...please..."

With the Fire Realm army trapped, the heroes immobilized and Kenkaku completely shielded from attacks, things looked rather bleak. Suddenly, out of nowhere, V himself strolled onto the battlefield. "And what do you think you're doing?" he asked Kenkaku.

Ken immediately stopped his attack and unshielded himself. "L-lord V! My apologies sir, but what are you doing here?"

"I'm afraid you're services are no longer required." Then, V dashed towards Kenkaku, made a huge leap, and dealt a powerful uppercut to Kenkaku's jaw. Ken was sent spiraling out of the sky, and landed hard on the ground in total disbelief. "Wh-wha?" was all he managed to get out before losing consciousness. "That should do it," V said, rubbing his fist.

Beat was immobilized by a sudden rush of fear and extreme confusion. What was V doing here? and why would he attack his own minion? Then he realized something about V, or the person who looked a lot like him. He looked exactly like V, only with slightly messier hair, a gray jacket, long pants and red shoes.

Smash was so startled, he stopped his aura field with a blast of energy that blew back anyone near him besides Pearl and Violet. "What the CRAP!?!?" He exclaimed at the top of his lungs. He almost sputtered random nonsense afterward, trying to form a coherent sentence.

Splice stopped in his tracks, and Gizmo lowered his gun from over his head. "What's going on here!?"

Kitty was flying back as fast as he could, about to try and attack Kenkaku through his swarm of blasts. But when they stopped, and in his place was not Kenkaku, but V instead, He made a screeching halt, just barely stopping in front of his face. His eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he screamed at the top of his lungs, and started scrambling towards the complete opposite direction.

Burst was on the ground not too far away. Kenkaku's barrage was difficult for him to defend against, and it had knocked him out of his Nova mode. He was left exhausted, barely able to move. The sight of V had only stunned him that much more.

Inferna hesitates in the air and simply hovers there while she waits for his next move, every once in a while releasing a strong gust of wind when she flaps her wings.

"W-what are you doing here? And why did you knock out Kenkaku?" Banzai asked.

"Because he's the enemy, duh. Did you guys have a memory lapse or some-- oh shoot." He suddenly stopped and looked down at himself. "I forgot how much I resemble him."

"Who are you then?" Beat asked.

"Call me Wes," he replied.

The white phoenix surrounding Inferna dissipates, and she drops about a hundred feet to the ground, cushioning her fall with a quick burst of flame. She staggers a bit, trying to keep her balance after using so much energy. "And how'd you get here?"

"Why do you even bother asking that considering everything that's going on?" Beat asked jokingly.

"I have access to a powerful form of chaos control, allowing me to travel dimensions, though it's not as...refined as Ciel's. While she can go anywhere she wants to and appear exactly where she wants, I appear in a random place, and it uses up a great deal of energy."

"Thanks for telling me."

Smash brushed himself off as the heroes began to regroup. "So tell me, Wes, Why is it that you look so much like the man we oppose?" He asked, looking at him with a hint of suspicion. Kitty soon came back to the heroes after seeing that he was on their side, but still looked confused and weary.

"Uh...that's a long story, which I'll explain later, cuz I'm not really so sure myself," Wes replied.

"Guys," Levi suddenly interjected, "I've just checked the status on Mobius. Your world has about 30 hours before V takes total control."

"Crap. That's not even two days." Smash exclaimed. "We need to act fast."

"Are we really ready to go back there...?" Violet asked, feeling uneasy.

"Whether we're ready or not, we'll have to soon." Smash said. "30 hours isn't as much as it sounds."

"We need to get the armies together as soon as possible!" Beat exclaimed. "Once that's done we need to return to Mobius at once! Considering V's powers, who knows what 'total control' could mean when applied to him."

"I'd rather not know." Splice shuddered at the thought. "Inferna, we need you to gather your army here."

"Uhh, Splice?" Gizmo pointed towards the hat. "I think they're already here...or rather, under there."

The army was still trapped underneath Kenkaku's enormus top hat. "It shouldn't be dangerous with Ken incapacitated," Wes said.

"Hey Smash," Beat said, "would you mind?" He nudged his head in the hat's direction.

Smash shrugged. "Eh, Sure." He said, still thinking about how absurd the whole top hat deal was. He walked over to the hat and lifted it from the edges. "It's large, but not that heavy." He commented. "Whatever Kenkaku was doing to it, must have kept it pinned down to the ground." With a mighty lift, he overturned the gigantic hat, letting it flop over upside-down and land on top of Kenkaku. The soldiers were free.

"Well that's one problem solved." Gizmo stated. "We need the other armies though. Wasn't there like one or two more that we were going to call for help?"

"Tendril said that he'd get the Shadow Realm's army to join us." Smash said as he turned back to face the heroes. "He hasn't returned, yet."

"Mew...Choca chao mrew Meow." Kitty spoke up. "Me-mew, Chao..."

"That would help if they weren't still on Mobius." Gizmo replied, glancing at him at the corner of his eye. "But if we could contact them in time when we arrive, that could help...I don't know how I feel about getting you all in this, though."

"Well, in the mean time, we should get some rest. We have a huge war to fight for Mobius. We won't do any good if we're all tired," Banzai said.

"Right." Splice nodded in agreement.

"Finally," Burst sighed, "That's what I was trying to do before that sad excuse for a magician came knocking." He turned around with much haste, only to see the mound of rubble that was once their hotel. His excitement quickly turned into disappointment and he -- for lack of a better word -- face-palmed.

"oi..." Splice's face drooped as he remembered the cozy little hotel they were going to be staying at was now completely gone.

"Where are we going to sleep?" Gizmo pouted.

"Ehh...well..." Smash looked over at Inferna. "You know this place better than I do."

"Well, there's another town a few minutes' walk from here," Inferna replies, "They probably have some space for us." She turns to her soldiers, "Though it might be better if you guys kept yourselves hidden." The captain nods, looking a bit humiliated at having been defeated so easily, "Yes, milady."

Several hours of rest and preparation later, the heroes are gathered in the main square of one of the many towns in the Fire Realm.

"Inferna," Beat, "Is the Shadow Realm army here yet?"

"I just received word from one of their Elites," she replies with a nod, "They should be here any second."

"Great." Smash nodded. "Now, Our battle plans. Let's go over our plans once more while waiting for them to arrive. Since most of us are from the Green Flower City/Station Square area, I think we should head there first."

"So we take back that area, then advance from there," Burst added. He was concerned for his own home of Nitro City, which was quite a ways away, but he knew that the Station Square area was of a higher priority. "How would we go about doing that, exactly?"

"Going there guns blazing would be suicidal," Banzai said. "We need to find out where V's forces are situated and attack there."

"Not to mention destroy the new satellite I just spotted," Levi said after consulting his monitor. "That's what's giving him control over the dimension."

"And I have a hunch that many of his soldiers are gathered up there at the satellite." Smash said. "But they most likely have another place where they gather. The satellite is something they need to guard. I'm thinking of something more like a headquarters."

"When we get there, let's split up." Splice suggested. "Some of us go off to find out where their headquarters is, the rest of us gathers up more people to fight by our sides. We meet up at Smash's house, or wherever else is convenient."

"Splitting up would be dangerous, if you were to get caught alone or otherwise without much backup." Smash reminded him. "But it would make things a lot faster."

"Guys, I should mention that this satellite looks more like a large building with the device sticking out the top. I bet that's the HQ, and that other one we destroyed back in Green Hill was a decoy while they finished this one."

"And where is it?" Beat asked.

"In the middle of a large wasteland," replied Levi. "It's a large open area, so they'll probably spot us coming."

"The Blaze Elites are very skilled at stealth," Inferna offers, "They could probably get pretty close before being spotted."

"So, when do we leave?" Banzai asked.

"How 'bout now?" Kleft suggested.

Tendril arrives nearby. He walks up to the group. "I'm back. My soldiers are waiting just outside the town."

"Good. So, everything's ready?" Levi asked.

"Looks like it," Tendril replies.

"So, how are we getting back to Mobius?"

"I can open a rift back," Inferna says.

"Great." Smash said. "Okay, so if we're splitting up, who will go where?" He asked. "I'll go to Green Flower City and gather the people there, and we'll take back the city when ready --Or, since we're short on time, just go and meet up with the group going to the Satellite."

"I'm not sure," Levi said, "he may have the city under surveillance. If we start gathering up fighters, it may proclaim our arrival to V, and he'll have time to prepare." Suddenly, and idea popped into his head. "Smash, that tracker I left at your house. It also works as an IT device."

"IT?" Banzai asked.

"Instant Transmission, meaning it'll transport you to another IT device it's connected to." Levi then pulled out a small blue cube from his pocket. He pressed several invisible buttons on one of its faces. "There, now the one at your house will take you to this one."

"That means, a few people can go to the city and bring some fighters to his house, and they'll just appear on the battlefield!" Beat exclaimed.

"Nice. Surprise reinforcements," Tendril says, "And if we move in under cover of night, my army will be virtually undetectable. V's forces won't have a clue what hit them."

Smash grinned. "Perfect..." He said. "Alright, It's settled then. Pearl and I will go alone. We need to stay as under cover as possible, so it'll just be us two gathering people. Everyone else will go to the battlefield."

Pearl glanced at Smash, and then nodded. "Alright."

Burst gave a thumbs up in agreement. "V'll hate the day he tried to screw around with us," he said enthusiastically, "Time to rock 'n' roll!"

"Okay then, who's going to Station Square?" Levi asked.

"I'll go." Splice volunteered.

"Will you be alright on your own?" Violet asked, somewhat worried.

"Don't worry about me. I'm good at escaping if something happens."

"Meanwhile, Pearl and I will head to Green Flower City," Smash added as a reminder.

"And I need to escort Kitty somewhere." Gizmo added. "Somewhere just outside of Green Flower City.

"And the rest of us will be out on the battlefield, right?" Violet asked.

"That's the plan, although I'm not sure whether it's a good one," Beat said.

"So..." Levi pressed several keys on his little cube. Suddenly, the space in front of him bent and distorted, then finally tore open, creating a portal that would send the others to Greenflower City, more specifically Smash's house. "Whenever you're ready."

Smash looked at the group and nodded. "Let's go." He and Pearl walked through first, then Splice and Gizmo, and then Violet and Kitty.

"I'll go with them," Kelft said. "After all, they left before you told them where to rendezvous." He then stepped into the portal.

"As for the rest of us?" Banzai asked

"I've traced V's satellite to somewhere called 'Sandopolis Zone'," Levi said. "I've never heard of the place but maybe you guys know it." The portal then changed to an orange color, and grew until it was roughly as tall as a small building. "I'll leave this doorway open in case any other help decides to show up." Then he stepped into the portal, which would take him to Sandopolis.

"Sandopolis," Burst said, "I haven't been to Angel Island in a while... Alright, let's do it!" He stepped halfway through the portal, then stopped and turned around. "Coming Inferna?" he asked.

Inferna nods and follows him, Tendril and the Fire and Shadow armies stepping through after them.

Part 5: Dimension V
V was walking through the corridors of his citadel, followed by Marz, a chained-up Ciel, and a familiar hedgehog (Tsunami). "So," he began, "what can you offer me....uh...what was your name?"

"I am Aquella," she replies, "But I prefer Tsunami. As for what I can offer.... I am the queen of the Water Realm. I can offer you my kingdom and it's military."

"All right. I can add one more army to my collection. As for you, what can you do?"

Perched on Tsunami's shoulder, Orochimaru answers, "I am difficult to kill. Aquella can prove it."

"I'm sure I can prove that wrong. How about a demonstration then? Follow me outside."

Tsunami follows V, saying, "He's right. He once took a ball of lightning to the face and shrugged it off like it was nothing."

They found themselves in a grassy courtyard, the ground lined with a neon green circuit grid and the sky a pale grey. "Judging by your name, your abilities lie in water, correct? Then allow me." He extended his arms in front of him, then raised them. Suddenly, a large water spring rose from the ground in front of Tsunami. "You can begin anytime."

"You want me to attack Orochimaru?" she asks.

"Oh no," V said, and glanced at Marz, "You'll be sparring against him," he said. "Your rank will depend on how well you do."

"Careful now," Marz said, "I'm full of energy this time."

"A rematch?" Tsunami replies with a smile, "I accept." She causes the water to spill out of the spring, covering the ground in the courtyard.

"You've just watered the lawn," V said sarcastically, "what else can you do?"

Tsunami immediately charges Marz at high speed with a lightning-laced lariat.

Like before, Tsunami charged right through Marz, missing him completely. As Tsunami appeared behind him, Marz's fingers lit up, and he attempted to slash her with an energy blade coming out of his finger tips.

Tsunami was ready this time. Immediately after passing through Marz, she stopped and back-flipped high into the air, dodging the blade. As she begins to fall, she brings her foot down in a high speed, high power axe-kick.

Marz knew that after seeing his abilities before, she'd know what to expect. The hand with the energy blade vanished in front of him, and reappeared above him, right in the way of Tsunami's kick.

Tsunami stops in midair, then back flips away. She lands on the side of the arena, then kicks off, launching herself at Marz with a sphere of lightning in each hand, lightning lancing off in all directions. She thrusts the two chidori at her opponent as she gets close.

Marz flips around to face her, creating two thick energy blades on either hand in the process. He copies Tsunami and charges at her head on clashing his blades against Tsunami's double Chidori and starting a power struggle, with both Tsunami and Marz blades clashing together, releasing bolts of energy in every direction.

Tsunami presses forward, unwilling to let Marz beat her again. She increases the duel chidori's power and seems to float up and over Marz until she is directly above him and pushing the duel chidori down, using gravity to her advantage.

Marz was beginning to struggle under the weight of the two Chidori. He didn't show it though, his face expressing nothing but calmness. Suddenly, Tsunami and Marz seemed to rotate in midair, like a singular body, and then stopped, with Marz now standing upside down over Tsunami, ramming his blades into her own.

Tsunami is surprised at first, then thinks of a way to use this to her advantage as well. She sinks into the water on the ground, giving Marz nothing but his own power to hold him up. She rises out of the water nearby, crouching low and still holding the chidori, as if waiting for something.

Marz acted similarly, walking upside down ,on thin air, until he was sufficient distance from Tsunami, energy blades still in hand. "What rank are you hoping to achieve by the end of this fight?" He asked her.

"I don't really care," she replies, "I'm just here for the power I felt from V."

"And what, you think V's just going to drop everything and tutor you?" Marz said sarcastically, then he thought about it for a moment. "He did help Ciel with her powers, so its possible he'll do the same with you." Then he smirked. "But that's only if you're worth it." With that, he thrust his right hand, holding the energy blase, out in front of him. His hand vanished, then reappeared directly in front of Tsunami, level with her eyes.

Tsunami immediately jumps backward to avoid the blade. The water on the ground rises up toward Marz, but doesn't do any harm. It simply touches his head, almost completely at random.

Marz teleported and reappeared high in the air. Why did she just touch my head? As he pondered this, he walked through another rift, reappearing a short distance away.'' That's it. Enough holding back''. He fired an energy arrow from his fingertips, which landed a few feet in front of Tsunami. The arrow created a small blast when it hit the water, creating a large splash, temporarily blocking Tsunami's view.

The whites of Tsunami's eyes change to cyan and her pupils shift to dark blue. She holds the screen of water where it is and sends more thin streams of water in Marz's direction. She seems to be able to see perfectly, even with the screen of water in front of her.

Good, Marz thought, and created a rift in front of him, sending the streams to who knows where. His hands begin to glow a bright white-purple color, and then he fires of thousands of energy arrows in all different directions.

Tsunami takes a step back in surprise, then sinks into the water again to avoid the arrows.

Every single arrow vanishes into space, while Marz hovers in wait for Tsunami. Don't trust your eyes, Tsunami girl, he thought.

Tsunami rises from the water. She rises up into the air and hovers at the same level as Marz. Twin hookblades appear in her hands as she takes up a defensive stance.

Twin energy blades appear in Marz's hands as well. "En guarde," he says, before swiping at Tsunami.

Tsunami swings outward with her own blades, catching Marz's with the hooks on the end. She kicks at his stomach, her foot laced with lightning.

Her foot vanishes into a spacial rift and reappears behind Marz. "Watch this," he said. Suddenly, Tsunami felt a clamping feeling on her leg, as if something was pressing against it from all sides, locking it in place.

Tsunami kicks upward with the other foot, aiming for Marz's chin. Like before, her leg gets caught in another rift, and her foot reappears directly in front her face, causing her to accidentally kick herself. She then feels the same pressure as before, her other leg locked in space.

Unable to move her legs, Tsunami begins thinking of a way out. After going over all possible options, she decides to do what nobody would expect. She pulls her hookblades away from Marz's weapons, then uses them to slice off her own legs, using her hydrokinesis to keep from bleeding out.

Marz was disgusted at her irrational act. Tsunami's leg stubs retracted into the spacial rift vanishing. "How do you plan to fight now?" I'll have to wait for the right moment to activate it..

Without answering his question, Tsunami brings the water off the ground as she falls, shrouding the battlefield in a thick fog. There is a dim cyan glow marking her position.

What Tunami and Marz didn't know was that there was another figure observing their fight. V had placed him their to act as the referee. The figure was hidden somewhere near the battlefield.

"You can't hide from me," Marz said, crossing his arms. Suddenly, dozens of energy arrows appeared around tsunami's position, forming a prison of sorts, every arrow trained on her position. "Fire," Marz said. every arrow shot towards Tsunami at extreme speed.

When the mist clears, the arrows are revealed to have lodged themselves in what appears to be a sphere made of two enormous, dark gray, webbed hands locked together around Tsunami. The glowing from between the hands soon fades.

"A new form? No matter. That won't change a thing." Especially with what I have planned, he thought to himself. Then he charged towards Tsunami, energy blades in hand and several energy arrows encircling him.

The two hands unfold and hold themselves between Marz and Tsunami to form a defensive barrier, though Tsunami is still obscured from view.

Marz tests the limits of Tsunami's shield, and shoots the arrows ahead of him. When they come near Tsunami, they vanish into space, and reappear behind Tsunami's barrier.

Tsunami melts into water to let the arrows pass through her, then reforms. The enormous hands slowly move aside, revealing Tsunami. Her blue coloring has changed to the same dark gray as the hands and there is a black mark in the shape of a four-pointed star across the bridge of her nose. And where stumps had before, Tsunami's legs seem to have regrown, looking as good as new.

"Good," Marz said when he noticed her legs, "I didn't want to fight a cripple."

Without responding, Tsunami flaps the enormous webbed hands to gain altitude, as they are attached to her back like wings. Her sword appears in her hand, lightning coursing down the blade.

"Is that form just for show? Come on, show me exactly what you can do."

Tsunami immediately vanishes and reappears on Marz's left, facing the same direction as him. She is moving forward at very high speeds, swinging her sword at him from behind. The blade is already mere inches from the back of his throat.

Marz barely had any time to react. Tsunami's increased speed surprised him. He quickly vanished into a spacial rift, and appeared right above Tsunami, rapidly firing energy arrows at her.

Tsunami vanishes once more and reappears further away. Water begins to collect on the end of her sword, causing it to grow longer. As the blade continues to grow, Tsunami swings the sword at Marz.

Enough games, time to play serious. Marz's hands began to blur. He sidestepped Tsunami's sword and grabs it with his right hand. The sword starts to blur and distort, then vanishes completely. He then shoves his other hand into a spacial rift, causing it to reappear at Tsunami's throat and attempt to grab it.

Tsunami drops to the ground in a puddle of water and reforms beneath Marz. She holds up a hand with a chidori resting in the palm. A blade made of lightning emerges from the chidori, growing up toward Marz.

Marz places his hands downwards, and the lighting gets sucked into a spacial rift. As he was doing this, the energy arrows from before reappear around Tsunami, surrounding her.

Tsunami looks around at the arrows surrounding her, contemplating what her next move should be.

In that moment of hesitation, Marz's hands suddenly grabbed Tsunami's wrists tightly. The air around them shimmers, signifying that they (the wrists) are locked in place. dozens more energy arrows appear around Tsunami, all trained on her position.

Tsunami's wings wrap around her like a cocoon to shield her from the arrows. Her mind begins to race as she thinks over each and every one of her abilities in hopes of finding a way out of this.

Marz moves slightly closer to Tsunami, so his powers will have more effect.

A small rift appears in front of Tsunami's face, showing her what's going on outside. In the rift, she sees the arrows redirecting themselves at her, aiming to sail through the rift, and effectively flying through her guard.

Nearly out of options, Tsunami decides that there may be only one move that would work. Her wings unfold and she turns her head straight up, opening her mouth wide.

"What's she up to?" Marz asked himself. He decided not to wait and unleashed the flurry of arrows at Tsunami. Any that may have potentially missed were redirected back at her via spacial rifts.

Tsunami remains motionless as the barrage of arrows impales her. Once it has ended, a jet of water is released from her mouth, falling down over her. The water collects at her feet and moves some distance away, then reforms into another Tsunami, unscathed by the attack, though she looks a little tired. The Tsunami that took the attack melts into a puddle of water and remains there, motionless.

"It's time I finished this," Marz said. He moved closer to Tsunami. As he neared her, the air around her seemed to blur. "Your finished."

Tsunami stands there motionless. The air around her begins to thicken and glow slightly.

Marz just continues to walk towards Tsunami.

Soon, the glowing expands into a flash of blinding, bright green light. When it fades, Tsunami's dark grey coloring is a bit lighter. She flaps the large wings on her back and lifts into the air. Her movements seem smoother now, as if the air is now moving with her.

However, as she rose a few feet, she suddenly found herself back on the ground. "Didn't you wonder why the air around you is suddenly so blurry?" Marz asked, grinning. As he got closer, the air got more distorted. "You can't escape this time."

"Who says I'm running?" she replies, "As you said, it's time to finish this. And if I go down, I do not plan to go down in retreat."

"How noble." An energy arrow appeared above Tsunami's head, but didn't fly towards her. Instead, it flew in the direction she was facing, only to reappear behind her, and fly into the exact same space again, and then teleport behind her again. The arrow kept whizzing above Tsunami's head in an endless cycle, showing that Marz's prison was inescapable. Dozens of energy arrows appeared from spacial rifts, surrounding Tsunami within the prison. "It's time for you to die, little girl."

"Marz, that's enough," said a voice.

Water appeared to condense right in front of Marz, forming a person. A large bang of blue hair covered the right side of his face, while his high-collared black cloak covered the lower portion of it, leaving only his left eye visible. "Kasumi," Marz said.

"Another one of V's servants?" Tsunami guesses.

"Yes, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't call me by that term. We are his top soldiers: The Daleth. Especially considering that I just saved your life."

"And I assume this means our battle is over?" she replies unenthusiastically.

"I've seen what I need to see." He turned to face Tsunami. "You are quite powerful, you know."

"Thanks. But from what I've seen, my true enemy is stronger yet. I joined Orochimaru and now V to gain the kind of power I need to be rid of him."

"Okay then. I've been given orders from V to train you. My name is Kasumi."

"They call me Tsunami."

"I know. But know this: I do not like to waste my time. I'm only doing this because of V's instructions. I do not know why he wants you to get stronger; possibly he wants you to join the Daleth."

Orochimaru slithers up onto Tsunami's shoulders. "You don't have to worry about wasted time," he says, "When Aquella first joined me six months ago, she was no where near as powerful as she is now. Trust me, she progresses very quickly."

"I said you were powerful," Kasumi continued, "But you're nowhere near Daleth power, and I can't guarantee you'll get there. If I am training you, it will not be pleasant."

"I know all about unpleasant training," Tsunami replies, "As long as it doesn't involve possibly dieing because of it, it's not as bad as another form of training I know of."

"Then we'll begin once you're ready."

(And Tsunami trains offscreen...)

While Marz and Tsunami fought for their ranks, V had retreated to his personal study....

"Marz, Lucian, Gem, Eli, Sohiro, Kasumi, Ibara, Kenkaku.....Am I missing anyone? No, those are my more powerful henchmen. But which ones should I send to Mobius? No doubt those fools will attempt a suicide mission to take it back. But, just in case things go wrong..." V distracted himself by watching Marz and Tsunami fight. Tsunami looked strong, but Marz was also quite powerful. Then something occurred to him. "I have Ciel. Maybe, I can travel to that plane again, see if I can round up a few people they know." He grinned evilly at the thought. "That'll be the last thing they'd expect, but getting there isn't going to be easy."

He then made his way to a large, cylindrical room, the walls completely black with neon green circuit patterns running along them. In the center of the room was a large, spherical machine, suspended in the air by several neon wires made of energy. Inside the machine was the familiar green haired fox girl who'd helped the heroes before. "Now Ciel," V began, "I'm going to travel to the other plane. I know how much power it takes so bear with me." Suddenly, a wire dislodged itself from the machine and shot towards V, which he caught with ease. Blue circuits began to run along the surface of his body, covering him in a wire-frame cocoon. "Time to gather up the fallen," he said, before vanishing in a brilliant flash of light.

V found himself in an empty world: It was full of swirling, abstract patterns of white and black. One might say it as beautiful. This was the space that existed between worlds and planes: The Space Betwixt. Although it was difficult, he had managed to place himself in an area between regular Mobius, and its afterlife, where the souls of those who die on Mobius reside. Getting to Space Betwixt was extremely difficult: it required precise timing and a vast amount of energy. Getting to this exact location left him almost drained. V floated stationary, trying to recover his strength.

Once he felt he was strong enough, he crossed his legs, closed his eyes and entered a meditative position. ''All right. From the information I've gathered, there are only a few people I'm looking for...''Then, using up a great deal of energy, he extended his telepathic abilities, so that he could hear the thoughts of the residents of Mobius and its afterlife. Suddenly, billions of thoughts filled his head. It was excruciatingly painful. He put his fingers to his temples and concentrated. Then he started calling out names. Chimera, Nusquam, Vorkusk, Scorch, Venomagos..... Those were a few of the names he remembered. The people of Mobius and beyond would hear someone calling them inside their heads and, if they were smart, answer back.

Who's this? a voice said.

Chimera?

''Yes. Now who are you?''

''I am V. The one who will soon control all of Mobius. I know someone who you know: Banzai. He is a thorn in my side. I was hoping you would help me and dispose of him. Join me, and you can have your revenge.''

''So, your the one in charge of these powerful forces........If I'm going to pick sides, might as well choose the winning one. Fine, I'll help you.'' And then Chimera would suddenly find himself whisked away to V's Citadel.

Let's see who else is online, V said.

(Here's where you insert characters from the revived villains section)

Suddenly, V's mind became filled with violent noises. At first it seemed like babble, but patterns became noticeable after a time. It was a strange, alien language... the language of the Black Army.

And who might you be? V said. The Black Army would hear it in their own language.

With his powers assisting in translation, V could now hear shouts such as Who are you? and'' Get out of my head! ''No response to V's question came from the enraged Crymnian.

He tried to focus on the thoughts of those who were most powerful. If you can hear me, please tell me your name.

Whether or not it was intentional, V had gotten what he originally wanted. ''Do not ignore me! No one ignores General Vorkusk!''

''Good, good. Mr Vorkusk, do you know who I am? I am the one who is currently in control of Mobius.''

''What? Impossible! If the Black Army could not achieve such a feat, then no one man could either.''

''Well I have, and I am making you an offer. As always, there are a few...idiots standing in my way. I'm far too busy to deal with them myself, so would you mind doing it for me?''

''Another chance at Mobius? If you speak the truth, I will gladly accept your offer. I will crush the Mobians like the insects they are!''

Thank you. And Vorkusk was instantly transported to V's citadel as well, where he will be greeted by the Daleth.

''Now, who else is here? ''V asked himself.

Suddenly, something flashed in his mind. It was unlike the other voices he heard or the spirits he felt in the area. A few seconds later, it flashed again. He could see it a bit more clearly, it appeared to be a transparent, dark lavender, flaming ring. He felt a lot of power coming from it.

Now V had visited scores of worlds before, but he had never seen anything like this. What is that?

Soon, the ring appeared in his mind and stayed put. As it floated there, burning, the flames shot up briefly, and he began to see faint visions. It appeared to be it's memories. He could see a strange realm with gigantic crystals floating in a bright void, and some people seemingly fighting it. He recognized a few of them as the ones he'd chased out of Mobius. Mainly by their clothes, because they had changed somewhat, most likely a powered up form. This vision ended when the ring was soon defeated, leaving the heroes nearly passing out from exhaustion.

V wsa intrigued. And who are you?

The ring wiggled a bit, but no words came out. It was quite possible that it was incapable of speaking. Though the next vision gave him a better idea of who, or what, it was. The vision showed a laboratory, with several scientists fusing several different colored rings in one machine. One of them then tried to fit it on it's wrist, but was overwhelmed by the power of the ring and dropped to the floor, dead. The ring floated off of his wrist and rose into the air, unleashing blasts of various elemental attacks simultaneously. The vision transitioned to seemingly later, where a normal hedgehog found the ring and tried it on. Nearly the same results played through, except the boy survived. Moments later, he stood up, now a pitch black hedgehog with red eyes. Another scene played through, showing the hedgehog talking to somebody. He introduced himself as "Darkyle The Hedgehog."

V continued to watch this odd creature's story.

The last part played through as Darkyle went around, causing destruction to villages, towns, and wherever he wanted. Soon, the vision ended, and he saw the ring floating before him. He felt as if it knew he was looking for recruits, and wanted a second chance as well.

Would you like a second chance? V asked politely.

The ring sparked, and he felt a sudden surge of energy, like it almost unleashed a portion of it's power, but it stopped, seemingly restraining itself. The ring twirled around once, and floated in place. Whether it wanted to or not, he had a feeling that he could make good use of it.

Excellent..V said.

Soon, the ring was transported back to V's domain. The ring scanned the room briefly, and soon landed on the nearest desk, seemingly lifelessly.

V returned back to his world to greet his new henchmen. He entered a large, black, dome shaped room, the floor, walls and roof covered with intricate neon blue and green circuitry. Standing in the center of the room were two figures: Chimera and Vorkusk, while a mysterious ring lay on a desk in the corner. "Greetings, friends. You may call me, V."

Vorkusk scanned the room, seemingly admiring the architecture. He had no response to V; apparently he wasn't much of a talker. However, he was prompted to roar when a wisp of blue flame flew from behind V. It took the rough shape of a hedgehog and floated in a sitting pose, one leg over the other. "You don't mind that I hitched a ride, do you?" he asked V in a cheeky tone.

"The more the merrier. But if you continue using that tone I will vaporize your toungue." V then carefully but ungratefully pushed the hedgehog to the other side of the room telekinetically. "Now," he continued, and summoned a large screen on one side of the room. The screen showed the faces of all the heroes of Mobius who were standing in his way. "Do any of you recognize these faces?"

Vorkusk looked up at the screen and simply laughed, saying in his native language, "So many rodents, and only two feet to crush them with." The fiery, blue hedgehog, however, was much more enthusiastic. "Oh oh OH! This is just too good," he chuckled, "That b****** Blaze is gonna love seeing me again."

"That sounds great," V chuckled. "Don't worry, you'll have your revenge soon enough."

"Who exactly are you?" Chimera asked, suspicious of the white-clad being.

"I am V, conqueror of worlds, ruler of dimensions...you get the point. For years my plans have gone off without a hitch, but these people are proving to be a major pain in the a**. I was hoping your reappearances would give them a little shock, and give you another chance. All you have to do is accompany me to Mobius for the impending war."

Meanwhile, outside the citadel, Tsunami is training hard with Kasumi...

"How are you doing Tsunami?" Kasumi asked casually, despite the brutal training he was putting her through.

Panting slightly, Tsunami stands up straight, unwilling to show any sign of retreat. "Just fine," she replies, "I'm simply not used to putting in this much effort. Probably because I don't have to against Orochimaru."

"Don't faint on me now," Kasumi said, "you're doing pretty well. Better than I expected."

A tall, female chipmunk-like person with long blond hair and a slightly revealing top walked towards the two of them. "Hello," she said.

"Ibara," Kasumi replied, with a subtle hint of disdain in his voice. "What is it? I'm a bit busy."

"We have orders from Lord V," Ibara replied, absently tossing her hair. "We're needed on Mobius to help the twins fight some big war. Apparently those 'heroes' may be a bit of a problem."

"Really? And I thought Gem and Eli would have been able to handle them. I suppose I underestimated them. When do we have to leave?"

"As soon as possible," Ibara said, then turned to Tsunami. "Another water user eh?" Then she smiled, a smile that was both friendly yet terrifying. "Try not to hold us back, okay?"

"Let's go Ibara," Kasumi said, "I thought we were needed immediately."

"Fine," she said, and turned to leave.

Tsunami silently watches her leave. It is uncertain how she feels about her, but she doesn't seem all that intimidated.

"Ignore her," Kasumi said as he was leaving. "She likes to make everything a scene. Quite a nuisance, actually." Then he evaporated into mist, and vanished.

Much later....

A voice rings inside of Tsunami's head; soft, yet clear: Can you hear me?.....

''Yeah. What do you want? ''Tsunami thinks, not giving any indication that she heard the voice.

Please...come...set me free...

Why should I? 

Won't you do it out of the good of your heart?

I do not do things unless doing so benefits me in some way.

''Really? Well.....Consider this. I heard some guards muttering about a large scale battle happening back on Mobius, against V's forces and my friends. It would be a great way to test your new powers...''

''Thanks for the tip. I can access the Water Realm from here, you know. And once I'm inside it's child's play to open a rift back to mobius. I don't need your help.''

''In any other world that may work, but this world is under V's complete control. Everything in here is controlled by his will. No one gets in or out unless he wants them two. I, however, do not suffer from these restrictions, as my inter-dimensional powers are unmatched. Release me, and I'll take you there...''

Tsunami decided to test this theory by attempting to open a rift into the Water Realm.

A tiny blur appeared where the portal would have opened, but instead tiny green sparks shot out, and the blue vanished. Told you...

Tsunami remained silent for a moment, then thought back, Fine.... She turned and began to walk away. Orochimaru, who had been watching her train, asked, "Where are you going?" Without looking back or stopping, Tsunami replied, "I'm gonna go train on my own." Orochimaru watched her leave, wondering about this sudden decision.

Ciel had lead Tsunami to a spacious, spherical room, with four narrows walkways extending from four different quadrants of the room, all converging into a large circular platform in the center. Above the platform was a large, gray orb, a single pothole on its surface emitting a pale blue light. The orb was suspended in the air, several wires and tubes spreading out from it and connected to the walls. At the edge of the circular platform was a small computer.

With little more than a glance around the room, Tsunami strides almost casually to the computer. She quickly figured out the machinery and released Ciel.

A small platform lowered from the bottom half of the orb, holding Ciel, bound in several glowing chains. When she reached the ground, she easily walked out of the chains, and strode over to Tsunami. "Thank you. Now, we should get..." she suddenly stopped mid-sentence, as she noticed someone standing at the entrance to the room.

"Mind telling me what you're trying to do?" V asked, arms folded and foot impatiently tapping.

"I'm going off to train on my own," Tsunami replied, turning to face V, "I'll return in about.....whenever I feel like it."

Suddenly, Ciel grabbed Tsunami's arm, and quickly vanished into a spacial rift, taking Tsunami with her. However, V was fast enough to jump in quickly before it closed, taking the three of them to the battle in Sandopolis.

Part 6: Back on Mobius
The world was in chaos. Entire armies fought against V's forces, but stood no chance against the advanced weaponry. Many areas who resisted V were left in ruin, while those who submitted were in slightly better condition. Station Square had fallen within a day, as the first of V's army had appeared there, giving the city no time to prepare. Many fought, some injured, a few switched sides, and many fled. The entire city was now under lock-down, with the citizens living in total fear of the invaders. G.U.N was completely powerless against V, and was reduced to attempting to form an agreement with them; one that may possibly save Mobius, only V wasn't listening.

It was now around 8pm, two days after V took over...

A figure floated high above the skies of Station Square. He had hidden himself among the clouds to hide from V's scrying eyes. From there he could see the intricate network of neon green circuits running along the floor of Station Square and surrounding areas. It was slowly pulsing, glowing to bright neon green then fading to dull gray. "This is bad," he said to himself as he descended onto a building.

The destruction had not gone unnoticed by a mercenary-esque moose named Gideon. Accompanying him was an odd-looking, cat-like beast with dragon's wings and black fur. His name was Panzyr.

"Why should we care what happens to these fools, musu?" said Panzyr, looking around at the carnage and snorting disdainfully.

Gideon said nothing, and merely continued to walk.

They passed a group of V's soldiers, who were loitering on the side of the street. One of them looked up. "Hey," he said, "you guys should be getting back home. It's nearly curfew." Station Square now had a strict 9pm curfew, where its citizens were not allowed to leave their homes until morning.

"The forests are my home," said Gideon, raising an eyebrow at the odd getup of the soldiers.

"We don't care where you live. Just make sure you're home by 9pm, or we'll personally escort you." Another soldier replied. The moose snorted.

"Then I will be on my way," he said, walking past the soldiers into the woods.

The residents of Green Flower City weren't doing too well, either. They had a strict curfew of 8:30, and already the streets were nearly dead quiet. Nobody wanted to risk racing the clock.

Even Angel Island had been targeted. Luckily, they didn't actually seize the island just yet. But it was only a matter of time before V's soldiers would barge in. The residents of a small village located on the island were well aware of this, and were preparing to evacuate to a shelter. During the preparations, two cyan hedgehogs stood on top of a hill, with a clear view of their home. "Something terrible has happened to this world." The male one said, sounding somewhat regretful. "How could we have missed something so big? Something so drastic, and globally life changing, just slipped right under our very noses." He turned his head away.

"I've heard that their leader is nigh invulnerable." His sister said, looking worried. "And his high ranking soldiers are already near unbeatable. Kyle...Do you really think we can win this?"

Kyle was silent. He closed his eyes, and was trying his best to keep himself from falling into despair. "...I do not know." He finally said. "But the only thing we can do for now, is to try to keep our loved ones safe. I am not sure how long the under ground shelter will hide them, but it is all we have for now."

While soaring above the city, Shendo noticed some commotion going on on the street. Two citizens were being harassed by a couple of V's soldiers. ''Really? Now?'' He started descending, and managed to land between Gideon and Panzyr and the soldiers. "What's going on here?" he asked, irritated.

The soldiers were surprised by his sudden appearance, but quickly regained their composure. They all raised their weapons and pointed them at the trio. "Why don't you all get out of our sight before we blow a couple of holes in your heads?"

Gideon's response was to pull out a Benelli M4 Super 90 and point it at the nearest soldier.

"It would be wise to move," he said to Shendo. "This gun will do more than make a 'few holes'..."

The beast, Panzyr, was on all fours, snarling at the soldiers.

The soldiers were not used to people rebelling against them. They cowardly lowered their guns and ran off, yelling for someone named Lucian.

"That went well," Shendo said. "By the way, name's Shendo."

The moose holstered his weapon.

"Gideon," he said, nodding a bit. "And this is Panzyr."

The being in question looked around at the mention of his name.

"So...I guess I'll see you around. I'm gonna go see if I can help take back station Square from this V person."

"Might we join you? As much as I admire this V person for putting G.U.N in their place, the problems he and his people are causing far outweigh this one good deed."

A shadowy figure peered at the group from a nearby alleyway. After a few moments, the figure vanished into the darkness of the alley.

"Well, I wasn't sure how I was going to accomplish that on my own, so I'll take any help I can get. Thanks."

Shendo started to fly off, then stopped himself. "Do any of you have a plan?"

Gideon and Panzyr looked at each other.

"Errr...plan........no, we don't."

Several hours later, it was early morning now. The streets of Green Flower City were quiet. The only people really present were guards patrolling the streets, with the exception of a brown cloaked figure, quietly and swiftly sneaking past the patrols without detection. The figure's face was hidden under the hood of it's cloak. Stealthily traveling across the city, It stopped in someone's yard and peeked into the window of their house. The house was quiet and empty, and it turned out to belong to Smash. The figure climbed a tree near the window of the second floor and peered inside. Still, no one was in sight. "Where are you...?" Came the whispers of a female voice from beneath the hood.

'If you're looking for Smash and the others, let's just say they're no longer among us," said a voice coming from the next branch. Leaning against the trunk of the tree was a blue echidna-like creature, with a furry white muzzle and a long fox tail. He wore green and red angel garbs.

She gasped at the voice, and whirled around to face the figure. "..What do you mean...?" She asked, soon gasping at the thought that they might have already been defeated. "They couldn't have..."

The creature soon realized what he'd said. "No not that. I mean...uh...they're no longer in this world. No, not that either. What I mean is that they're in a different dimension."

The person calmed down a bit. "Another dimension...?" She asked, still somewhat surprised. She stared at him for a bit, before asking "Who are you?"

"Are you familiar with the Island of Enigma and the Sentinel crisis?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. Not in the least." She answered.

"Well, my name is Paroi. And you are?"

The girl pulled back her hood to reveal an orange cat with white stripes, and somewhat messy hair. "My name is Amber." She said. "I came looking for Smash, because I thought that he could help save Mobius..."

"Well, you might just find him. I'm sensing some spacial distortion." Right when Paroi finished speaking, several figures suddenly appeared inside Smash's house.

Amber noticed a slight flash of light at the corner of her eye, and immediately looked over towards the lower window. She saw a few familiar figures inside, and her face brightened up. "Thank you." She said, before leaping down off the tree.

Smash brushed himself off as the group entered the living room.

"Home sweet home." Pearl said, looking around the house.

"As it were." Smash added. It didn't feel the same with V in control. "Alright, We have absolutely no time to lose. Let's get right on it."

"Got it." Splice said. Right then, they heard a knocking on the door. Everyone in the room froze at the sound.

"Psh. Typical." Smash rolled his eyes. "The moment we get home there's guests."

"Smash, be careful, it might-"

"I know, I know. Just stand back." Smash said, interrupting Violet. He walked towards the door and looked through the peek hole. His eyebrows rose, and he opened the door. "Amber?"

"Hello, Smash..." Amber greeted, looking very relieved to see them.

"Hello," said Paroi, who had suddenly appeared at the door. "I'm Paroi."

Smash was rather surprised at the two's sudden appearance. "Well, uh-Come in. We don't have much time on our hands so let's make this quick." He allowed the two to come inside. "You guys who haven't met her, this is Amber." He introduced. "And Paroi, whom I'm sure most of us don't know."

Amber smiled at the group. "Hello. I'm very glad to have finally found you all."

"Were you looking for us, Amber?" Splice asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes..." She looked down. "I desperately needed help. They were everywhere, they took over the forest. They knocked down trees, scared out the wildlife, everything. I couldn't stop them by myself. I ran to get help, and I found that they were here, too. When I couldn't find you guys..I panicked."

Suddenly, Kleft just appeared in the room. "Hey geneii," he said, "you left before Levi cold tell you exactly where to meet up afterwards." Then he felt the tension in the room, and softened up. "Did I interrupt something?"

Smash glanced over at Kleft, and then back at Amber. "Sorry about that. We've had our own share of troubles to deal with. But now we're all together, so let's work together to take back what's ours." He then turned around to look at Kleft. "He shoulda been quicker to mention it, then." He shrugged. "Where are we meeting up?"

"He'll send me a message momen--" something beeped at his side. He took out a small rectangular device and peeked at it. "He said meet him by the oasis in Sandopolis Zone. I'm assuming you guys know where that is."

Smash nodded. "I know someone who does." He said. "Okay then, Here's the plan. Pearl and I are going to gather up the guys here in Green Flower City. Splice, Amber, You two gather whoever is left in Station Square. Lie low, they might recognize you, Splice."

"Got it. Leave it to me!" Splice said, enthusiastically."

"Alright." Amber nodded.

"Gizmo, Hurry and tend to your business with Kitty, whatever it was. Kleft, you go with them. We meet back here in an hour at the latest. Understand?"

"Sure thing," Kleft said, then turned to Gizmo. "After you."

Smash turned to Violet. "And you, I think you should stay here. We need someone to look after the house, as it's got our way to the rendezvous point."

"Alright. I'll wait here." Violet said.

"Okay guys, let's move out." Smash opened the door and let everyone move out the house.

Splice lifted Amber onto his back, giving her a piggy back ride. "Hang on tight, this is gonna be a quick and bumpy trip!" He dashed out of sight in a matter of moments. Gizmo lead Kleft down the street, heading south, while Smash and Pearl went straight down the street, heading east.

As Smash and Pearl headed down the street, they kept their eyes peeled for any soldiers patrolling about. They stopped at the next house over, and knocked on the door. "Okay, Pearl, we'll split up for a bit." He said. "I'm gonna go check on Speedy and his family. Meet me over there."

"Got it." Pearl nodded. "Be careful."

"You too." Smash turned around and hurried down the street as the door opened to reveal a dark gray adult fox.

"Hm?" The fox's eyes widened. "Goodness, if it isn't Pearl! I heard you'd gone missing!" He exclaimed.

"Hi. How is everyone doing over here?" She asked.

"Oh, it's been rough I tell ya." He said. "With all these patrols going on, no deed goes unnoticed. Please, Come in." He stepped aside and let her enter.

Meanwhile, Smash had stopped at a house further down the street and started knocking on the door. In his mind, he was just praying that his best friend was alright.

The door opened slowly, and a frightened red hedgehog stepped out. "Smash...?" A look of relief came across his face. "Thank goodness you're alright! Where have you been? What's going on?"

Smash looked relieved to see him, but he was somewhat pained to see how frightened he was. "Speedy! Boy am I glad to see you!" He said. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you guys before. A lot of things happened. But now we're going to fight back against these guys." He looked over his shoulder and inside. "How's your family? Is everyone alright?" He asked.

Speedy's face darkened further. "D-dad... he got sick as soon as the city was taken over... we don't know what's wrong with him, but I think its because he feels like he failed this city as a police officer. He's been in bed with a fever ever since."

Smash's eyes widened. "That's...awful." He said, quietly. He started thinking about how rough it'd been for everyone back here on Mobius, and felt a pang of guilt for leaving them all. He shook his head, remembering his mission. "Listen, Speedy. I need your help to fight these guys. I've met a bunch of allies who are already on the battlefield. We need to join them in less than an hour."

Speedy nodded slowly. "Okay, but who are these people, Smash? They just appeared so suddenly and took over the city... you still have to tell me what's going on. If we have to go now, then tell me on the way."

"I'll tell you on the way then." Smash said. As the two stepped out of the house, Pearl and Crystall were just arriving.

"Are you ready to leave?" Pearl asked.

"Yeah. Let's get a move on. And let's be quick about it." Smash said. "Next stop: Tab's house."

Soon, The group had made it to the eastern part of the city; somewhat close to the south exit. Smash stopped at one of the houses, and knocked on the door. "I hope she's alright." He said.

In a few moments, a rather exasperated mouse with a straw hat opened the door slightly. He opened his mouth to say something, but paused for a bit when his eyes met Smash's. After a small moment of silence, he continued. "What do you want?" he asked, opening the door a little wider.

Smash wasn't quite expecting to see him, and was a bit thrown off. "Sorry to intrude, sir. Is Tab here? It's important that I speak with her."

The mouse shook his head with a disgruntled expression. "No, there is no 'Tab' here."

"What..?" He looked surprised. "But if I'm not mistaken, This is her house. And I'm quite sure I don't remember a mouse living here before." He started to sound firm. "Where is she?"

The mouse's eyes widened at Smash's statement. "Ssshhh!" he said, putting a finger over his lips. He quickly scanned the street to see if anyone was watching or listening before turning back to Smash. "I'm sorry, but this house is vacant. I don't know the Tab you speak of, but she's certainly not here. You're best off looking somewhere else; I don't want to attract any attention over here."

Smash fell silent. ''What does this mean..? What happened to Tab?'' He thought. Now he was worried. "I understand." He said. "Thank you." He left the house, walking down the steps.

"I don't get it...Where is she?" Pearl asked, worriedly.

"She might be at Lucy's house." He suggested. "We're running out of time, so let's hurry." He then lead the group over to Lucy's house as quickly as possible.

Once they arrived, Smash knocked on the door quickly. C'mon...please be here! He thought, desperately.

The door slowly opened, revealing a purple cat with a look of dread on her face. Her expression quickly brightened upon seeing Smash's face. Without saying a word, she rushed over to him, embracing him in a big hug.

Smash was relieved when he saw her, letting out a sigh of relief. The hug caught him off guard, and caused him to take a step back, but he returned the hug. "Thank goodness you're alright." He said.

Pearl and Crystal smiled, happy to see Tab again as well.

After a brief moment of silence, Tab let go of Smash. "What happened? Where did you go? What's going on?" she asked, tears streaming down her face.

Smash put his hand on her shoulder. "It's a long story." He said. "To sum it up, I and a few other guys in the gang got sucked up into this wormhole, and we got separated into a buncha different dimensions. The guys who took over are lead by someone named V, and he's on a dimensional conquest."

Pearl stepped forward. "We're so sorry to worry you like that." She said. "But right now, we've got a whole resistance fighting in Sandopolis, It's time to take back our home!"

"Yes, she's right." Smash said. "We split up so we could gather up the rest of the gang." He looked down slightly. "I never imagined that it would have gotten this bad so quickly..." He felt a huge pang of regret for leaving Mobius, for retreating and letting V conquer the world. He felt like a coward, and almost like he betrayed everyone, but he knew he had no other choice. "That's why we need to go now."

Tab wiped the tears from her eyes and attempted to put on a serious face. "The rest of the gang..? Did you find everyone else? Are they okay?"

Smash shook his head. "I'm working on it." He said. "Most of everyone is okay. I don't know about Hyper, Lucy or Lily. And I expected to run into Shade along the way, but I haven't seen him."

"We haven't seen Syria either." Pearl said. "Or Thunder and his brothers."

Tab's eyes widened at the mention of Lucy's name. "Oh, Lucy is downstairs! She and her family are perfectly fine." she said with a slight smile. Her smile then faded a bit. "Lucy is kind of..flustered right now, though. I'm sure she will be relieved to know that you all are alright."

Smash nodded. "I'm glad. I figured she'd be here if you were."

"Speaking of which, Tab, Do you know the guy that's in your house right now?" Crystal asked.

"My house..?" she asked, tilting her head to the side. "I moved in with Lucy. My house is vacant at the moment. Someone is in there?"

Smash nodded. "Yeah. Some mouse I didn't recognize." He said. "Well anyway, it doesn't matter at the moment. We still have to check on everyone else. We're actually supposed to be back at the battlefield in less than half an hour."

Pearl bit her lip. We're gonna be late.

"Alright then," she said. "I shall accompany you. Just give me a moment to write Lucy a note so she knows what's going on." Tab picked up a piece of paper from the table and began writing a note. Things are finally looking up, she thought to herself.

"Great." Smash said. "We'll be out here." He then turned to the rest of his group. "Okay guys. Since we're low on time, we should split up. Pearl, you and Speedy go look for Shade. Crystal, You and I will go and find Hyper. We'll meet back at my house."

"Got it." The two girls said in unison.

"What about Lily?" Tab asked, setting the note she just finished on the table. "Syria, too. Or is there not enough time to gather them?"

Smash looked back at her. "I'm a little iffy about bringing Lily into this. And Syria's not much of a fighter, either. Not to mention that Syria lives kinda far from here, and we don't have much time." He looked around. "Maybe if Lily decided to randomly show up like she usually does, she can come, but..." He just shrugged. "Anyway, we should get moving."

"I didn't mean to bring them into the fray," she said. "Just check up on them to make sure they are alright. In any case, I am ready to move."

"Great. Alright, Let's split up, gang!" The group then hurried off in opposite directions. Smash, Crystal and Tab headed towards Hyper's house, while Pearl and Speedy rushed down the streets, searching for Shade...

Soon, Smash's group reached Hyper's front door. Smash knocked on it a few times, and waited for an answer.

"Mr. Hyper, are you in there?" Crystal called out. "It's us!"

Nobody came to answer the door. Smash frowned, and knocked again. But there was still no response. "...I guess he's not here..." Crystal said.

"I dunno. I have a bad feeling." Smash folded his arms. "But he could just be hiding.." He turned back, "Let's go, we don't have time to waste if he's not gonna answer. Let's just hope he's alright."

Crystal nodded, and hurried after Smash.

Meanwhile, Pearl and Speedy looked around the city, wandering aimlessly down the streets. "Where could he be?" She wondered aloud. "Shaaade! Where are you?" She called out.

Speedy frowned. "How exactly are we supposed to find him? I mean, its true that he's usually around Green Flower City, but he doesn't really live anywhere."

"I dunno..." She said, frowning as well. "I was really hoping that he'd just show up out of nowhere like he usually does..." She looked aroud again, feeling a bit worried.

Pearl and Speedy continued searching for Shade in the city, but Shade did not show up.

"This is getting nowhere." Pearl sighed. "Let's head back."

Meanwhile, Kleft and Gizmo went about their business, until...

Something on Kleft's wrist began to beep. "Hm?" he waised his wrist to his face, and suddenly all the colour washed from his face. "This is bad," he said.

Gizmo turned to look at him with a very worried expression. "What? What is it?"

"The war's already started," Kleft said, "and V's brought in a few surprise reinforcements."

Gizmo's heart skipped a beat. "Oh, boy...Surprise reinforcements? Well THAT'S just Great." A sweat drop rolled down the side of his face.

"Mew chao Meow!!" Kitty exclaimed.

"Yeah, We need to hurry!" Gizmo then started sprinting along the way. They were just leaving the city through the southern outskirts. They passed by a single house at the end of the road, which turned from the concrete pavement into a dirt road. Gizmo looked at the house, somewhat sadly, but pushed onward. They soon made it to a grassy landscape: Green Flower Zone. Even this peaceful place had V's circuitry decor scattered about. "We're almost there." He said.

"Where exactly is there again?" Kleft asked.

"We're going to the Cat Chao Garden." Gizmo stated. "There we can get help from the chao, and I can pick up something of mine that would help us greatly."

Kitty nodded, and then flew ahead. They passed over a river, and Kitty flew up the river heading straight for a small, gentle waterfall. When they caught up to him, they were standing face to face with the waterfall. Kitty glanced at the two of them, and then flew right through it, disappearing from their sight. A few moments later,the water began to split as a wooden plank stuck out from the fall, revealing a cave. A ramp extended from the cave, stopping directly at their feet. Kitty waved from inside, motioning for them to hurry on in.

As they walked inside the cave, they saw light at the end. It wasn't a very long cave. "Let's check here quickly and make sure V's guys haven't been here yet." Gizmo said. They hurried to the exit, and found themselves in a chao garden. It was strangely quiet; not a chao in sight. The group glanced around the garden. "..Where IS everybody?" Gizmo asked, feeling worried.

Kitty flew towards a somewhat tall building, and tried to open the door. "Chaooo?" He called out, finding that it was locked. As Gizmo and Kleft walked over, Kitty was suddenly greeted by several chao hiding in the building as the door suddenly swung open.

"Well, they seem alright." Gizmo said. "Come on, Kitty can handle the rest here. We've got something else to do while they catch up." He then lead Kleft back into the cave. Instead of leaving, he made a left turn, towards another section of the cave which was blocked off. A sign next to it read "FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY". Gizmo placed his hand on the wall next to the sealed passage, seemingly feeling around for something. Soon enough, the section of the wall glowed slightly, and Gizmo began typing in a code on seemingly rocks on the wall. The section glowed briefly again, and the blockade slid out of the way. "This way." He said. He lead Kleft up the stairs. It increasingly got darker as they moved up. Soon, Kleft could barely make out where he was going. After a few minutes, they began walking straight, the floor didn't feel like the dusty earth they were once walking on anymore. It felt smoother, yet harder, and sort of metallic. Soon, The lights suddenly switched on, and he found himself on the bridge of some sort of large aircraft, and Gizmo was sitting in the pilot's seat. "This is it." He said, grinning. "This is how we're going to join them: Through the air!" He continued to fire up the engines, and prepare for takeoff. He pressed and held a button at his side and leaned towards a microphone. "Come in, Cat Chao Garden. This is Gizmo The Cat. Come in, Cat Chao Garden. All Chao report to the main deck immediately. Repeat, All Chao report to the main deck Immediately." He released the button, and then looked back over at Kleft. "Once all the chao get here, we'll take off immediately." He said.

Once all of the chao were on deck, Gizmo was giving several orders to Kitty, who repeated them into the speaker for all the chao to hear. There were several chao running and flying around all over the ship, getting everything done. The ship began to power up, preparing for takeoff. The wall in front of the ship opened up, revealing the daylight outside. "Alright! Get ready for take off!" Gizmo shouted. All the chao cheered in unison, all fired up and ready to go. Soon, the ship began to float into the air, and slowly cruise out of the cave. They were on the other side of the large, checkered hill from where the water fall was. Once the ship had exited the cave, they quickly flew upwards, flying towards the clouds. "Set course for Angel Island!"

Meanwhile, Splice and Amber made it to Station Square. It was in pretty bad shape, and there were even more of V's patrols there than in Green Flower City. "It's worse than I thought..." Splice said quietly, letting Amber off his back.

"Where do we go from here..?" She asked.

"Look around. Surely there's gotta be a few competent people around here who'd wanna help take their own world back." Splice said. "...Heck, easier said than done. At first glance, no one would even think of US as being competent."

"Looks like I'm not the only ones who want to beat up this V person," Shendo said, descending from the sky in front of the two.

Splice and Amber quickly turned to face the new person. "Who are you?" Splice asked.

From below, on the ground, Gideon and Panzyr approached the group.

Amber noticed Gideon and Panzyr as well. "Are you all fighting against V, too?" She asked.

"So, do you guys have some kind of plan or something?" Shendo asked. They both nodded, their faces stony and determined.

"Yeah." Splice said. "My friends gathered up this big ol' army, and are already about to fight V's forces head on. We're going to be the reinforcements who will probably show up at the last second to save the day."

"Well, that sounds rather...convenient?" Shendo said, a bit surprised that something was organized so quickly. "So, are newcomers welcome?"

"That's why we're here. Heh." Splice said, grinning. "I'm Splice. And this is my friend, Amber."

"Hello." Amber greeted with a nod. "We would appreciate any new help."

"Great! So, uh, when do we start?"

Splice looked around. "Depends. Let's take a look around and see if we can recruit any more people."

"Sure thing," Shendo said.

"Alright, Let's split up and look for anyone who can help!" Splice said. "Meet back here in 20 minutes at the latest!" The group then split up into different sections of Station Square.

While Splice was searching, a mysterious blue figure clad in green suddenly appeared in front of him. "I hear you're looking for reinforcements."

Splice stopped, and looked over at him with a serious expression forming on his face. "Who are you?" He asked.

"Reinforcements, is it?" A voice from behind spoke up. "Is it finally time to get these freaks to take a hike," The figure coming out of the alleyway turned out to be a black echidna, who looked equally as serious as Splice. "or are you recruiting FOR the freaks?"

Splice whirled around to look at the echidna. "Hey, after all the crap I'VE been through? No way I could think of helping those guys. They've stayed at this party long enough, It's time to show them the door."

"I may be of some assistance," the blue figure said. "My name is Paroi, and I would love to these 'freaks' the door."

"Perfect." The echidna said, smirking a bit. "My name is Cutter, a bounty hunter working here in Station Square. I won't charge anything this time, so keep your wallet in your pocket." Splice scratched his head. "Alright then, That's great! I'm Splice. My friends are already out there fighting as we speak, so we need to hurry as fast as we can. I met a few others here, so we should meet back up with them first."

"Right. Let's hurry." Cutter nodded.

"Where are we meeting?" Paroi asked.

"Just at the entrance to the city." He replied. "The southern entrance, facing Green Flower City."

"All right then. Shall we go?"

"Yeah, Follow me!" Splice then ran down the road, heading for the southern entrance.

Meanwhile, Amber had already returned to the meeting point, alone. She slumped down on the curb of the road, looking somewhat distressed. "No luck..." She sighed. "Maybe...they're all too scared to come out of their homes...this place was hit the worst, after all..." She looked around, soon seeing V's patrols marching down the streets. "Can we...can we really win this? Is it really possible...?" She then stood up, noticing some of the patrols were about ready to head in her direction. She quickly moved her hood over her head, and hid in the alleyway. She crouched low behind a dumpster, waiting for them to pass. Suddenly, she froze, hearing footsteps coming in her direction. As they slowly got closer, she bunched up in the corner of the dumpster and the wall of the building it was next to, just praying that it was Splice with backup. She then saw a figure walk past her, a male cat wearing silver armor. He was holding a helmet under his arm, and had a spear strapped to his back. He stopped in front of her, his ear twitching repeatedly, and then turned around. "...Are you hiding from the soldiers?" He asked. "What have you done to attract their attention?"

Amber looked up at the man. He didn't seem bad, but he had a rather stern expression on his face. She slowly stood up, dusting herself off. "I don't want to come in contact with them at all, if possible." She said. "Especially not when I'm alone."

The cat nodded. "That's understandable." He said. "I'm trying to avoid them myself, since I have yet to have the chance to change out of this armor."

Amber tilted her head to the side. "Wait...Can you fight?"

"Yes, I can." He stated, simply. "I some times participate in events hosted at the Blitz Pit. There I am known as "The Silver Lancer"."

"I see..Then, could you help me?" She asked. "I desperately need help, my friends and I want to fight back against these troops." She looked down. "Most of them are already out there fighting for our sake...That's why I need to find people to help them! Please, if there's any way you could help.."

The cat looked rather surprised by her sudden plea. He didn't like these people who came and took over, either, but he wasn't sure if this was really a winnable battle. He remembered another army of rebels, alongside G.U.N. who were nearly wiped out. He was about to mention this, but he decided against it, seeing how desperate she was. "If your friends are fighting for this world, if there are people out there fighting for our future, then I cannot simply ignore them." He said. "Take me to them, and I swear by my spear that I will do whatever it takes." "Thank you..." Amber said, starting to smile a little. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't even introduce myself. My name is Amber."

"Silver. Silver Abelard." He said. "Pleased to meet you."

Just then, they heard a voice calling out for Amber. "Hey, Amber! Where are you?"

Amber looked behind him. "That's one of my friends." She said. "Let's go meet him!" Silver simply nodded, and the two of them hurried off out of the alleyway.

Back on Angel Island, Kyle was walking towards the outskirts of his village with his sister. They both were looking at an older hedgehog rushing towards them. "Sir! We have just returned from scouting the area. We found no signs of the enemy near Tillia. However, we believe that the reason behind that is the current war taking place in Sandopolis." He reported. "Several people have gathered up to fight the enemy right there in the desert. We have also discovered that the enemy has set up a base of operations there in the desert, just a ways away from where the battle is taking place. I believe it is safe to assume that the resistance intends to destroy it."

Kyle glanced at Keela, both of them looking surprised. Looking back at the scout, he bowed slightly. "Thank you. The two of us shall head there to aid them immediately. Tell the others, and stay on guard. Let no enemy pass."

The scout saluted them. "We shall do our best! Good luck to you, and Godspeed." The scout then hurried off to inform his comrades, while Kyle continued to walk towards the exit of the village.

"Kyle...Can we really win this?" She asked.

"Have faith, Keela. If we all work together, we shall overcome this." He said. "If Smash is among their group, we have nothing to fear." The two of them hurried off to reach the battle in Sandopolis.

Part 7: A Total Warzone
The heroes' army appeared in the vast, sweltering, sandy expanse known as Sandopolis, near a large oasis.

"This looks like a great place to meet up with the others," Banzai noted.

"I can see V's base from here," Beat said looking towards the horizon. Surely enough, a tall, metallic structure could be seen far in the distance, with a large satellite on top of it.

Burst scanned the landscape, seemingly remembering something. "This part of the desert... it's so familiar," he said to himself, "Probably just some deja vu. So, what now?"

"We can charge ahead, or we can wait for the others to arrive," Levi said. "What would you like to do?"

"Well, I'm always up for a good fight," Burst answered, "But I don't wanna do anything stupid." Gesturing to the scar on his back, he continued, "Besides, I've still got this thing to worry about."

"We should at least send a few people to check out the area," Beat suggested.

The captain of Inferna's army steps forward. "Allow me to send some of my soldiers," he offers, "They will disappear into the heat of the desert so they cannot be detected by our opponents."

"That sounds like a good idea. I had a feeling that your soldiers would have an advantage here," Levi said.

"Hey guys," Banzai said, "where's Wes?"

Interdimensional travel never agreed with poor Wes. Instead of appearing with the others, he popped up some distance away. He could see the silhouettes of the others, but something prevented him from moving towards them. Why am I getting such a bad feeling? he asked himself. After a few moments hesitation, he used a series short ranged teleportations to reach the others.

Meanwhile, at the base...

Kasumi and Ibara had just stepped out a portal into the metallic building. It's interior was chrome coloured, with neon green and blue circuits running through it; the typical V decor. "How is everything?" Ibara asked.

"Everything is going well, ma'am. Control over this world is at approximately 64%. Give us a few more hours and Mobius will be all ours," said a soldier.

"Then why are we here?" Kasumi asked.

"We detected some interdimensional activity a little while ago in this general area. We couldn't pinpoint the exact location though. Lord V fears it may be those pesky heroes again, so he sent for both of you."

"Is he here?" Ibara asked.

"He was. He brought some new warriors to fight for us. Never seen them before but apparently they're quite powerful. He sent for you two to help defend the base."

"All right then," Ibara said, closing her eyes and clasping her hands together. "I'll use the plants of the desert to scout out any unwanted guests." She then opened one eye to Kasumi. "You can use the itty bit of moisture in the air to detect them."

"Don't tell me what to do," he replied. "Besides, it would be wiser to look out for the moisture of their bodies. The intense heat should cause them to sweat a lot, which would make them easier to weed out."

Ibara chortled silently, eyes closed. "They think they have a chance."

Back in the desert...

Burst stared at V's base from atop a sand mound. "This doesn't seem right," he said to himself. Something wrong? Blaze asked him. Burst was silent for a moment but replied, I don't know, but I'm getting a reeeal bad feeling about this. He just stood there, staring off into the distance, keeping uncharacteristically still.

Every plant within 8 kilometers from V's base now acted as eyes for Ibara, from large cacti to small weeds. At the bottom of the mound from where Burst was standing lay a cactus, from which Ibara could see Burst clearly, although the cactus gave everything a green hue. "I see one," she said to Kasumi in a tone that said I'm winning. Kasumi ignored her and concentrated on locating the others.

Banzai didn't like the idea of waiting. He was more of a doer, and standing around didn't suit him. Just as he was about to run off, Wes suddenly appeared in front of him, startling him.

"Whoa! Where'd you come from?" he gasped.

"Sorry. Interdimensional travel isn't my thing," Wes replied.

"Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?" Beat asked no one in particular.

"You too, huh," Burst replied, turning his head only slightly as to continue his watch of the base. "He sent that goof in the top hat after us when we were in another dimension. You'd think he'd have found us already now that we're practically standing at his doorstep."

As soon as Burst said that, from inside V's base, Ibara barked an order: "Send the behemoths."

"Whatever happens, make sure to conserve your energy for V's more powerful minions," Levi warned. "He'll probably send small waves of soldiers to make us --" he was interrupted when a massive sand explosion occurred in front of the army. When the sand cleared, a large, armored wolf-beast like creature with a long bladed tail was standing in front of them: a behemoth. More monsters appeared out from the sand near the first one.

"Here we go," Banzai said, staff in hand.

The members of the Fire and Shadow armies each draw their massive blades, though their numbers have thinned since several Fire soldiers have already dissappeared. The two armies form a defensive position in front of the heroes, determined to defend Tendril and Inferna at any cost.

Several laserguns opened up on the creatures' backs, and fired small energy bolts at the army in rapid succession.

Two of the soldiers leap into the air, one from each army, and, in a flash of light, transform into Firelight and Twilight forms respectively. They hold their swords in front of them and the lasers swerve around them, missing the heroes entirely.

The monsters then rushed towards the soldiers, fangs bared. Beat created a translucent rectangle of energy under one of the behemoth's feet, causing it to fall over. Levi then immediately rushed to the fallen creature, and placed his hand on it's armored leg. Before the behemoth could react, the glowing circuits on its armor dimmed to grey, and the armor started to fall off in large chunks, leaving it's body exposed.

Another soldier from the Shadow army charges the creature and begins slashing mercilessly at it's bare flesh with a large blade in the shape of a carving knife. Several more shadow soldiers transform into shadows and attempt to find a way inside the armor of the other behemoths.

"Remember to conserve energy guys!" Banzai shouted from up in the sky, where he was riding on top of his staff. He was raining down energy blasts on the behemoths. One of the creatures opened its mouth, and began charging energy in it. Banzai hopped off of his staff, and tossed it into the creatures mouth, causing a small explosion and leaving it unconcious. The monkey then did a small somersault and landed safely on the ground.

"Don't worry about that," the Shadow Captain replies, "My soldiers are trained as the most elite in the Shadow Realm. They have plenty of energy to spare."

"Good, cuz we might need it," Levi said. Suddenly, from behind the behemoths came scores upon scores of V's soldiers, all donning silver, green streaked armor. These soldiers looked a lot tougher than the ones the heroes had faced before, some of them armed with various typed of firearms, others armed with various close ranged weapons.

"Here we go," Beat said. And then the soldiers attacked.

(Btw anyone can RP as the soldiers, so you can do your own individual fights. Check the talk page for their armory. Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 01:29, August 9, 2011 (UTC))

The soldiers in front opened fire on the army, showering them with energy blasts. Beat retaliated by creating a wall of cyan blue energy to deflect the shots. Some soldiers were downed by the ricocheting blasts, but most of the shots simply bounced off their armor. Beat then pushed the wall of energy forward, pushing away several of the enemy solders, only to find that more soon filled their place. Banzai, still up in the air, was raining energy blasts down on the enemy forces, while dodging the shots of the few who were actually aiming at him. Kleft took out two futuristic looking guns, and started firing bright yellow, glowing energy pellets at the enemy soldiers, creating small explosions on contact. He managed to take down several solders, but was beginning to be overwhelmed by their numbers.

The armies of Fire and Shadows disperse into smaller groups, each one playing different roles in the battle. Several groups charge head-first into enemy lines, slashing and stabbing with their huge swords. Some pull off transformations similar to those of the first two and begin assaulting the enemies with several different elemental attacks while others remain behind with long-range weapons to keep the enemy army away from the heroes.

After a while of fighting, the enemies numbers began to shrink, slowly but surely. "I think we're doing pretty good," Banzai said, whacking several soldiers with his heavy staff.

"This is only the beginning," Levi warned, shooting down enemies with his blaster. Sure enough, things did get worse. Tougher looking, black suited soldiers soon appeared in the sky, flying using jets on their back, and began raining gunfire down on the battlefield.

Inside V's base...

"They seem to be doing rather well," Ibara commented. She was viewing the fight from a large monitor. "Should we send in the 'surprise reinforcements'?"

"Not yet," Kasumi said, "Let's see how they deal with this first. Then we'll send them in. And, if that fails, it's our turn."

Back on the battlefield...

Burst was doing his best to help hold off the enemy forces, but 'conserving energy for the more powerful minions' wasn't exactly working out well. "It's a good thing these guys aren't too much trouble," he said to no one in particular, "Or we'd have to go full out already."

Wes seemed to be having no trouble in taking down the enemy forces. He attacked the soldiers with powerful punches and kicks, and whenever he was in danger of being hit, he used a short ranged teleport to avoid damage and down his attacker.

After what felt like hours of fighting (in fact, it was only ten minutes, the soldiers' numbers began to dwindle. Many of them began to fall back, while those who weren't quick enough were defeated by the heroes' army.

"We're doing it!" Burst called out, "They're falling back. We're actually winning!" He seemed quite confident as he finished off the few soldiers remaining around him.

Rapid came out of hiding. He saw the enemy retreating. He smiled and walked to the battlefield.

Once the fightning has ended, the Fire and Shadow soldiers return to their defensive positions, unwilling to believe that V would stop after one wave.

They were correct to believe that V wasn't giving up. Several shapes appeared on the horizon. Several, very familiar shapes. The shapes of various figures the heroes swore were long defeated.

(Here come the revived villains!)

'Long time, monkey boy," said Chimera, once he was close enough so that Banzai could hear.

"Oh dammit," Banzai said, "and I thought things couldn't get any worse."

One of the figures appeared to be a lankey Black Oak. He stood hunched over, wearing bone-white armour which looked like it had once been the skeleton of some animal. In his right hand he carried a buster sword, and in his left a Refractor. A robotic arm was mounted on his back with a Black Barrel on it's end. As if it weren't intimidating enough, it had a Black Sword attached as a bayonette.

Burst saw the familiar face and immediately remembered the short battle they had almost two years ago. He immediately pulled an earpiece from his ear and tossed it to Levi, saying, "Hey, do you think you can use your tech-power-thingy to make a few more of these?"

"Yeah, I guess." He pulled out a few extra materials he kept around from his pocket, and placed the earpiece on top of them. The materials swirled around in a tiny vortex of spare parts. When it finall stopped spinning, eight earpieces were in the palm of his hand.

"Great," Burst called out. "You see tall, dark and ugly over there? He doesn't speak our language. These are translators, and let me tell ya, they're a big help."

"I'm sure they are," Levi said, placing the earpiece in his pointed dragon-like ear.

Chimera unsheathed a glowing yellow sword, and skilfully spun it around in his hand. "As much fun as this little reunion is, I'd really like to get some payback for what happened in the past."

"Sounds good," Banzai replied, "I've been waiting for another chance to kick your butt."

"Burst," Levi asked, "This other one is your enemy, right?"

"You could say that," Burst explained as he recovered his own translator, "We butted heads a bit almost two years ago, but that was it. Unless he's got some personal vendetta for his soldiers, he and I don't really have much of a history."

Suddenly, another figure flew out from behind the Black Oak. It was a being of blue fire who looked remarkably like Burst's companion Blaze. "Oh, the general here's not alone, Burst," he said. A look of shock appeared on Burst's face as he shouted, "Scorch? That's not possible... Blaze wasted you, I saw it myself!" Scorch simply laughed at this and responded, "Karma's a b****, ain't it?"

"Let's just say we've been given another chance by V." Chimera said. "How's about we cut the chit chat and get back at these fools?" He asked his companions.

"I like the sound of that," Scorch replied. In his alien language, now understandable to the heroes, Vorkusk shouted, "Attack!!!" Scorch went straight for Burst, while Vorkusk merely proceeded to mow down the fire and shadow armies with his buster sword. Chimera went straight for Banzai.

Banzai and Chimera were locked in a duel, Banzai fighting with his staff and Chimera fighting with his sword, the latter trying very hard to avoid Chimera's eyes. They both attacked, swayed and parried, but neither side was getting a hit in.

The weaker members of the armies go down without too much difficulty, but the Elites mixed in fight back with incredible speed and strength.

Vorkusk fought off the soldiers like there was no tomorrow. His armour was suprisingly durable and he took hits like a boss. He continued to strike at the closer soldiers with his sword, while using his gun and the cannon of his back to pick off distant targets. Meanwhile, Burst continued his brawl with Scorch. He had since let Blaze take control, making the fight significantly easier. They were both incredibly focused, until Scorch suddenly stopped in his tracks. Burst turned around, wondering what he had seen to make him stop. Standing not too far away was the cloaked swordsman they encountered in Blussora.

---

"Oh, would you look at that?" Ibara said, "Looks like a new guy just joined the fight."

Kasumi had noticed the arrival of the mysterious warrior, but hid his surprise well. "And? Even if they manage to defeat our warriors, they still have us to worry about."

"I know, but I'm curious to see what this one can do."

---

Back on the battle field, Banzai and Chimera had put away their weapons and were now fighting from a distance with energy blasts. Chimera jumped high into the air and fired several shots of pale yellow energy at Banzai. The young primate retaliated by spinning his staff in front of him, deflecting the blasts away from him. He then countered with a voley of his own green energy blasts, which slightly homed in on Chimera. The monster shot a blast upwards to propel himself to the ground, where he effortlessly dodged the monkey's blasts with incredible speed. Banzai then, more out of impulse than anything, tossed his staff at Chimera. The villain extended his hand to catch it, but reconsidered, remembering how heavy the staff was. He ducked under it, allowing it to shatter a rock behind him. "That all?" he said, glancing back at the pebbles that once formed a large boulder. When he looked forward again, Banzai's fist was inces from his face. He just barely managed to catch it, and tried to look Banzai in the eyes, in hopes of catching him with his signature move. Banzai, however, was expecting this, and kept his eyes closed. He then kicked off of Chimera to distance himself from the villain. "Not bad," he commented.

While the Fire and Shadow armies have had to begin resorting to significantly stronger moves and dirtier tactics against their powerful opponent, Tendril and Inferna had been waiting for a chance to take one of the new enemies by surprise. Inferna takes the distraction caused by the swordsman's arrival as a chance to attack Scorch from behind with her Magma Battle Axe.

Inferna's attack passed right through Scorch. He payed no mind to her either, for he was too horrified by the swordsman's appearance. Burst/Blaze was more confused than frightened, and he said to Inferna, "Go. Keep your distance. Scorch is dangerous, from what we saw back in Blussora, I'm sure this guy is too." Off in the distance, Vorkusk let out a loud roar. He swung his arms to trow off two soldiers that were holding onto him, while one was stuck, impailed on the bayonette of his cannon.

Meanwhile, the swordsman slowly moved forward and said, "I'm here for the Scorch. Stand aside." Burst/Blaze was unsure if he should listen, but did anyways. Scorch backed away in shock, unable to say a word. The swordsman than dashed forward, slashing Scorch across the chest. The blue flames which made up his body were ominously absorbed into the sword. Suddenlty the swordsman sensed something. He turned his head to look at Tendril and thought, ''His aura... why does it seem so familiar?''

Tendril watched as the swordsman effortlessly finished Scorch, wondering if even he stood a chance against this new fighter. Remembering something he had been told quite some time before, he summons his own sword, slipping one hand into his pocket and closing it around a small object inside.

"You there, freak of shadows," the swordsman called out to Tendril, "I am not you enemy, but I can be. Tell me why you radiate such a familiar power. I will do the same to you as I did to him if you do not cooperate."

Familiar? Tendril thought, ''This must be the Demon that Arc told me about. If he is...'' He pulls a purple gemstone out of his pocket and says, "Recognize this?"

The swordsman was hesitant for a second. "Wha-- That's... Where did you get that?!" He took a moment to remove his cloak and hat, revealing himself to be Mobian; a midnight-blue wolf. He caressed his sword as a nearly identacle gem glowed from within it's hilt.

Tendril smirks as he notices the glint of purple from the blade. "An old friend of your's was kind enough to give it to me. It's the same one as in your sword, isn't it?" he asks. He touches his own gem to the hilt of his sword, Moonlight. He causes the shadows that make up the sword to move away from each other, allowing him to embed the stone in the hilt. "Now it's in mine too."

The swordsman was confused now. "This cannot be," he grunted, "You could not possibly be granted a shard of the Amethyst. It must be a fake, it must!" He swung his sword and pointed it towards Tendril, firing a bolt of violet energy.

Tendril reponds by firing a bolt of his own at the swordsman.

The two bolts collided, causing the two to feel slightly drained. "Urgh... I can't lose to him," the swordsman muttered to himself. He then dashed towards Tendril, ready to slash at him like he did to Scorch.

Tendril raises his own blade to block his opponent's, unwilling to let this slightly drained state stop him from fighting back. "And by the way," he says, "Arc still hates you."

The clash of their swords created a bright spark of violet energy, but not much else. The swordsman chuckled and pushed past Tendril, leaving a slice on his arm. Now behind Tendril, he turned around and said, "Arc... Even in death he is still a thorn in my side. Killing him just wan't enough." His chuckling grew to laughter as he continued, "I know exactly what you are trying to do, 'freak of shadows'." He fired one more bolt, striking the gem in Tendril's sword. It flashed brightly and became no more than a plain stone.

Tendril gasps, surprised that the power has suddenly left the gem.

Wes, who was simply watching the fight, was now itching to help Tendril, although something told him he shouldn't get involved. Levi, however, had sided with Banzai against Chimera. The villain had drawn his sword again and seemed to be getting the upper hand over Banzai until he stepped in. While Banzai battered Chimera with physical attacks, Levi attacked from a distance with his buster gun.

---

Back at V's base, a human sized Soshiro had just stepped through the portal and joined Kasumi and Ibara.

"Where did you come from?" Ibara asked.

"V is getting worried about the enemies power, so he sent me here for good measure."

"V needs to give me more credit." Kasumi said, "I mean us."

"He's worrying over nothing," Ibara said, "looks like they might destroy themselves."

--

"Did you really think you could fight me with that?" the swordsman said to Tendril, "You have not trained in it's power." With another chuckle he continued, "I must ask you to thank Arc if you see him again. Had you not brought me that gem, I would have had to go through the trouble of collecting it from him." He looked around at the battles going on around him, and then raised his sword into the air. "My mission was to collect what was lost from the Void, but it insists that I finish you all off whil I'm still here. All of you! Here my name and tremble! I am Demon Yamato: Soul of the Void!" With that call, another bolt of violet energy shot from his blade into the sky. Within moments, more bolts rained down like lightning all across the battlefield. Demon disappeared in a flash of blacklight, leaving the echo of his maniacal laughter behind.

"Enough of this!" Beat shouted. His hair was now glowing white and his fur a light cyan blue. Suddeny, a large, bowl shaped barrier of cyan energy envelops the battlefield. When the energy bolts hit the barrier, they all converge into the center, collecting into one large energy ball. The barrier then closed in on itself, containing the explosive energy in a large ball. Beat then jumps up, and spikes the ball down towads Chimera, shouting for Banzai and Levi to get out of the way. Levi tosses a flash bomb on the ground before fleeing, temporarily blinding Chimera, leaving him open to the explosive volleyball of energy flying straight toward him. The attack hits, and envelops Chimera in a large dome shaped explosion of violet energy, defeating him once again.

A few moments after Demon left, V's elites returned to the battlefield, now sporting more powerful looking armor and weapons. They hand increased their numbers to the high hundreds, and now engaged the remain ing heroes in battle.

Tendril appears to be growing annoyed by this constant onslaught of enemies. He spins his sword around so he's holding it with the blade pointing down, then stabs it into the ground. "Weapon Style: Moonlight!" he calls at the top of his voice. Immediately, shadows begin billowing from the hilt of the blade, surrounding the battlefield in darkness so thick that the sun looks like a full moon. The oncoming enemies begin feeling sudden slashes from all sides, as if the shadows themselves were attacking them.

Gideon and Panzyr had at last arrived on the scene.

"Oh good, there's still some @$$ left to kick," said the moose, pulling out a Benelli m4 Super 90. "I was afraid we'd be left out."

"Less talking, more killing, musu!" said Panzyr, charging forward to engage the soldiers.

The wave of soldiers seemed endless. More and more of them were spewing out over the horizon. "This may be harder than we thought," Beat said in a worried tone.

Tendril's weapon style attack continues, the sky remains dark and the soldiers continue to be struck by sudden slices that seem to come from the darkness itself. He releases the hilt of his sword and summons his twin shadow blades. He seemed to fade away into the darkness, reappearing in the middle of the army of soldiers, slicing rapidly whenever one gets too close.

The armor of these soldiers were much stronger than the previous wave, and were able to endure Tendril's attacks. They began attacking the rebel army with a plethora of weapons, including energy blades, laser guns and energy cannons. One of the soldiers attempted to stab Banzai with their sword. He managed to block with his staff, but the blade was powerful enough to cut right through it. Banzai was shocked, but he just managed to step back and avoid the sword, escaping with a small cut across his chest. He then extended his hand forward, and released a powerful wave of chaos energy, blasting away his attacker and several other soldiers, but they didn't seem to take much damage, if any.

Panzyr leaped into the air with a roar, aiming himself at the nearest soldier, dual HellFyre Claws at the ready.

Seeing that his attacks were having little effect, Tendril shut off his weapon style attack to conserve energy, and allowed his sword and shadow blades to dissolve into shadows. Wings of shadow sprouted from his back and lifted him high into the air, out of range of the soldiers' short and mid range attacks. Inferna's Battle Axe appeard in her hands. She lifted it high into the air, then brought it down, calling out, "Weapon Style: Lava Curtain!" As soon the axe blade strikes the ground, a deep fissure opened, moving in the direction of the enemy lines. Lava spewed up out of the fissure, raining down on top of the soldiers. Tendril flew over to the peak of the curtain and began absorbing the heat from the lava until he entered Darkfire Form. {C}---

"I'm going to interfere. Stop me if you wish," Soshiro said, then abruptly vanished.

"Can we go too?" Ibara said, in a childlike, nagging manner.

"Fine. We should conserve our forces for later battles," Kasumi replied. His body then dissolved into mist, then vanished.

"It's about time," Ibara said, as five large rose petals rose from the ground and enveloped her body, trapping her in a rosebud. the flower then sank into the ground and disappeared.

Suddenly, the lava abruptly froze, looking like a massive sculpture. Then, out of nowhere, a now human sized Soshiro appeared on the battlefield. "It's our turn," he said.

Meanwhile, back in Dimension V...

V was pacing back and forth in his chambers. The walls were lined with intertwining, pulsing, neon green and blue circtuits, and almost half of the large spherical room was lined with dozens of monitors, all showing footage from different worlds. Something was bothering the tyrant, something he couldn't explain, nor would he ever be able to tell anyone: He was getting weaker. It had only just come to his attention when he had returned from the Space Between, after contacting past villains. Normally, he would be able to last in that space without much effect on his body, but last time was different. Last time, he could feel himself gradually grow weaker the longer he stayed there. He had planned to recruit more villains, but he was forced to leave and rest to gather his strength. He could not believe it; he, of all people, was forced to rest. He, the immortal with a near infinite supply of energy. Ciel's escape; the mobian rebels; and most haunting of all, a person who looked remarkably similar to himself: Wes. He knew that his waning strength and these events were somehow linked, and he needed to get to the bottom of things as soon as possible. And if he was to do that, he would have to do it himself...

---

Soshiro regarded each of the heroes in turn. "I must say, your powers are impressive, and to still have the strength to fight after taking on an army." Then he chuckled. "But, do you remember what happened last time you took me on?"

Gideon walked forward a bit, his gun laid casually over his shoulder.

"Panzyr and I are rather new here, I'm afraid," he said, nodding over to his beastly pal. "Care to explain just what did happen last time?"

"I think a demonstration would better explain," Soshiro replied, a bright yellow aura enveloping his body.

"Then we shall demonstrate as well," said Gideon, cocking his Benelli M4 Super 90 once. Panzyr snorted derisively at the sight of Soshiro's aura.

"That is your demonstration? A gleam of twinkling yellow lights? Ha!" He stretched his wings and stood up on his hind legs, flexing his claws.

"You didn't let me finish," Soshiro said. "Magnega." Thrusting out his right hand, he fired a large orb of silver energy at Gideon, stopping a few feet away from him. The orb acted as a magnet, pulling Gideon's weapon toward it. "Blizzaga." From his left hand, he fired a massive, spear shaped chunk of ice at Panzyr.

Gideon was not expecting this. Maintaining a tight grip on his weapon, he managed to point it towards the orb and fire, the recoil making him step back a bit. Panzyr, meanwhile, quickly dove into the ground using Dark energy, the Blizzaga striking his former location just a split second later.

The ice spell then suddenly shattered into hundreds of small ice shards. The shards then turned and shot towards Gideon, whose gunfire was absorbed into the magnetic orb. Cursing, he let go of his weapon and leaped out of the way of the shards, sustaining a few small cuts across his back.

"Where are those other reinforcements? They'd be very helpful right now," Beat said anxiosly.

Suddenly, a stream of arrows began to rain towards Soshiro's head. One right after another. The first few were normal arrows, but then some of them were burning up in a fire ball, and the ones after that were powered with Ice and Lightning. And then there came bulky stone arrows, which would cause more damage by smashing the enemy rather than piercing them.

Soshiro barely heard the tiny arrows slice through the air before the were nearly upon him. Thinking quickly, he brought his hands up in front of him, raising a wall of strong stong in front of him to shield against the arrows. But he wasn't quick enough, and a few regular arrows stabbed into his arms. "Who's there?" He yelled. A cloud of mist had collected at Soshiro's side, forming into a tall lynx wearing a flowing black cloak, blue hair covering most of his face. "It appears that we may need to interfere," he said. A large rosebud rose from the ground in front of them, petals parting to reveal an elegant cat with magenta fur. "Finally," she said. Panzyr reemerged from the ground next to Gideon.

Burst, having just finished off a small wave of soldiers, climbed atop a sand dune and saw the new arrivals paired with the familiar face of Soshiro. "Oh great, more clowns?" he said with frustration.

The lynx called out to the heroes,"We are V's last, and strongest line of defense. You fought well, but might as well call it a day. You're highly outmatched."

"We will still fight!" A voice called back. Kyle stepped forward, his sword drawn and gripped with both hands. "Where there's a will, there's a way. We will find that way." Somewhere behind Kyle, Keela stood her ground. She was the one holding the bow, and was preparing to fire another. She held her fire until she could get a clear shot at one of them..

"I'll take the newcomers," Kasumi said, "you two take the other warriors." he then started to walk slowly toward Kyle and Keela.

"These guys don't look so tough," Ibara said, shrugging. "Guess we need to train our soldiers more."

Kyle walked towards Kasumi, giving him a cold glare as he gripped his sword. The Gemblade glowed brightly in the hot sun, seemingly creating an aura around it from being in the direct sunlight. Keela aimed at Kasumi, and fired an arrow directly at him at an alarming speed.

The arrow zipped toward him, and as soon as it pierced his chest, he briefly turned to mist, allowing the arrow to pass through him before solidifying. "You'll need to try harder than that," he said, rainsing his arms out in front of him. Large clouds of mist spewed out from his long sleeves, surrounding the three of them with a ring of mist.

Keela was taken by surprise, however, Kyle kept walking forward. "Gem of Wind, Lend me thy power..." He whispered, softly. The white gem on the sword's handle glowed in response. Kyle swung his sword to the side, causing a strong, yet brief gust of wind to blow by, taking most of the mist away with it.

Kasumi grunted. He handn't expectad that -- but that didn't mean he couldn't counter it. The mist suddenly condensed into a large wave, which was about to crash on top of Kyle and Keela.

"Keela, Get Back!" Kyle ordered. Keela did as she was told, and began to run back a safe distance. "Gem of Wind and Earth, lend me thy power..." He held his sword upwards, the tip facing the sky. As the wave approached him, a huge gust of wind blew around him. The wind began to pick up sand from all around, and spin around him like a small tornado. As the wave closed in on him, he was nearly out of Kasumi's sight.

"Ice," Kasumi muttered. The wave transformed into a cloud of mist once more. However, if one looked closely, they could see that each water droplet had transformed into a tiny ice needle. With a simple hand motion, kasumi shot the cloud of needles at the three warriors.

Keela turned around to see the wave turning into ice and being used as projectiles. She then drew her sword, and prepared to defend herself the best she could.

Kyle leaped into the air at the last second. His leap was made so quick, unless you focused hard on him, you wouldn't even see him. The sand had fallen back to the ground as the ice needles drove through it, and Kyle was high in the air above them. Holding his sword above his head, he came down towards Kasumi's head, ready to cleave him in half. (This is the move in particular.)

Kasumi's body turned to water, and began swirling around, forming a whirlpoolthat grew larger and rose higher and higher, catching Kyle in the torrent.

Seeing the water come up, Kyle gasped slightly. He was surprised by the fact that he could actually turn himself into water. The first thing that came to mind on how to counter this was to use the Gemblade. "Gem of Water, Lend Me Thy Power!" He yelled in a rush. As he came in contact with the water, he stabbed his sword into the center of the vortex. Water from the Gemblade gushed out, most of it flying up and forming a small, aquakinetic barrier around himself, while the rest shot through the vortex. "Gem of Ice, Lend me thy power!" He chanted. "May the merciless embrace of frost take you. Arctic Bind!" His sword glowed an icy blue color as the water that shot through the vortex immediately froze, and began to freeze the rest of the water as well.

The entire vortex was frozen solid, transformed into swirling ice. Kasumi was nowhere to be seen. "Don't tell me he's done for already," Ibara said from a distance. "I am doubltful," Soshiro replied.

Now standing in the frozen vortex, A quick and fitting way to finish him came to mind. "Gem of Earth, lend me thy power..." The green gem on his sword's handle began to glow in response. "O sharpened rage, run through that which blocks our future...Stalagmite!" He swung his sword upwards, and performed a backflip off the ice as a large stalagmite quickly rose from the ground under the frozen vortex, threatening to completely shatter it.

At that instant, the ice turned to water once more, spinning so rapidly that it ground the stalagmite to dirt almost the moment it appeared. What looked like a dragon's head made of water emerged from the top of the spinning vortex, watery jaws gaping and threatening to suck Kyle into the powerful vortex.

Kyle just barely made it away in time. He landed on the ground in front of the vortex, and rapidly felt the ground being drawn inside. He quickly backed up a safe distance, trying to come up with a better plan.

As quickly as it had appeared, the water dragon reverted back into Kasumi, carrying a blade seemingly made of ripping torrents, riding on a wave of water towards Kyle.

"I pray that I will not regret this..." Kyle said silently to himself. He held the Gemblade out in front of him. "Gem of Water, I offer you this power!" The blue gem once again glowed in response, and the wave of water soon began to get sucked up into the blade, and channeled into the gem.

"Enough of this foolishness," Kasumi said, using his will to keep the water under his control. The water that was being sucked into the blade transformed into several spears of ice, heading straight for Kyle.

One of the spears was suddenly met with an incendiary grenade, exploding onto the frozen projectile in a blast of fire, melting it into a harmless pool. Another one of the spears was greeted by a blast of fire coming from Panzyr's mouth.

Kasumi slashed his water sword, sending several, long whips of water, looking almost like sword slashes, spiraling out from the sword. They turned and twisted in the direction of Panzyr. Leaping and flying above them, the beast spewed more fire at Kasumi. He retaliated by swinging his water sword above his head, creating a barrier of water above him, shielding him from the flames. The colliding attacks created a massive cloud of steam as the fire was extinguished by the water barrier. And through the steam, Panzyr barreled towards Kasumi, snarling, dual HellFyre claws at the ready. However, while Panzyr was dashing through the steam, Kasumi quickly froze it solid, trapping Panzyr in a cloud-shaped block of ice.

Panzyr had definitely not been expecting that. He was completely immobile now, and looked quite shocked, with his mouth frozen in a permanent snarl. "One down," Kasumi said, then turned to face the others, "and the others shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Kyle looked over and gasped at the sight of the frozen beast. He was about to rush over to his aid, when someone else beat him to it. "Kyle! Keep fighting! I'll help him."

Kyle's eyebrows shot up. "Splice! Where in the world...?" He shook his head and smiled. "Thank you." He turned around to face Kasumi again, as Splice began to thaw out the ice block that trapped Panzyr inside. Walking past him were Cutter, Silver, and Amber.

"It appears that we are a bit late..." Silver stated with a frown. He fitted his helmet onto his head, and took the spear off of his back. Cutter also whipped out his own spear, and the two took a battle stance next to Kyle. Keela rushed over to the group, and joined trio at their side.

Paroi suddenly appeared next to the trio. "Better late than never," he said, extending his arms and creating five basketball-sized orbs of light appear around him. Ibara had emerged from a flowerbud next to Kasumi. "You might need some help for this one," she said. "Let's get started shall we?"

Kyle glanced over at the new group of heroes who sided by him, and smiled a bit. He then turned his attention back to Kasumi, his expression returning serious again. "I shall continue my bout with him." He said to the group, keeping his voice low enough for only them to hear. "The Gemblade possesses the power that can counter his, and possibly can destroy him. Keela, Cover me. I cannot take him alone. He is not to be underestimated."

"I'll help you take him, as well." Cutter said.

"Then I will fight the girl." Silver said.

Amber looked at the two enemies ahead of her, somewhat nervously. "I...I'm not sure..how effective I'll be..." She said, quietly. "I'll just try to help whenever I can."

"I'll take the beast over there," Paroi said, nodding at Soshiro. "I sense magic on him."

"Um, excuse me," Kasumi said calmly, "don't count me out yet. There isn't a person alive who can out-water me. You were only able to do so because I hadn't expected it."

"You think you alone can take me?" Ibara asked in surprise.

"None of you stand a chance," Soshiro barked, growing to roughly three times his size, now towering above the heroes.

"Maybe so." Kyle nodded. "And it is possible that luck will stay on my side."

"I will if I have to." Silver said, sternly.

"Except he won't!" Splice ran towards Ibara, both of his arms bursting into flames. He leaped into the air, performing a backflip as he created a wave of flames heading towards her. Before he began falling towards the ground, he threw his hands down facing her, and began shooting several fireballs towards her head. Silver stood by, waiting for an opportune moment to strike.

Meanwhile, Panzyr had been unfrozen.

"Firaga!" Soshiro shouted, freezing the fireballs in place for merely an instant, before Paroi shouted "Graviga!" creating a large black gravity ball above Soshiro's head, causing him to fall to the ground and release his spell under the force. Two thick, thorned vines rose out of the ground near Ibara and coiled around her, encasing her in a cucoon. A large flower bloomed in front of it and sucked in the fireballs. Kasumi had slashed again with his sword, sending several thin, long tendrils of water towards Kyle.

Keela stood in front of Kyle, quickly guarding each tendril with her blade. Kyle took this chance to advance towards him. Once again, he began to chant silently to his sword. He brought the blade upward, slashing a vertical blade of wind towards him. He brought it back down as he charged forward, repeating the attack. Cutter followed beside him, and with his free hand, threw a boomerang towards his side.

As Ibara sucked in the fireballs, Silver made his move by slashing the vines with his spear. After a few quick slashes in an attempt to tear the vines apart, he thrust his spear forward to stab right through the coccoon. Splice fell down to the ground, and put kept his hands out in front of him as he began to blow flames at the upper part of the coccoon like a flame thrower.

Kasumi exploded into a large cloud of mist, allowing the attacks to pass through him. Like before, the water droplets turned to ice needles, and fired off in the directions of Kyle and Cutter.

Not even a scratch appeared on the vines as Silver tried to cut them down. Suddenly, the thorns covering them extended a few feet, threatening to stab anyone who was too close. The fire flower then released the fire it had absorbed at Splice like a flamethrower. Simultaneously, more thorn-covered vines rose from the ground, high above all three of them, surrounding the area with large, trunk-like vines.

Kyle quickly whirled around in a complete 360 degree spin, his sword still glowing from the power of the Wind gem. "Aeroga!" A small tornado formed around Kyle and Cutter, soon forming a small sphere of wind which repelled the ice shards by blowing them away. Cutter became annoyed when his boomerang ended up getting blown away on return. He slashed at whatever shards of ice came too close to them.

Silver backed away quickly. The thorns poked his armor, but not hard enough to pierce it. The flames covered Splice, but seemingly had no effect on him. Not even his clothes burned. When the vines rose from the ground, the two backed away, and stood back to back. "What kind of monster are we facing, here...?" Silver said, with a hint of worry.

"So this plant thrives on fire, huh?" Splice said, looking up at the thorny vines towering over them. He had just finished absorbing all the fire that had covered him. "Let's try the opposite, then!" He ran towards one of the vines, his hand now glowing with an icy aura, and punched just between the thorns. Icicles grew on impact, as the spot he struck began to freeze, and soon shattered and spread out in every direction.

"Damn ice," Ibara said, exiting her cucoon. The area that was frozen shattered, but the vine held strong. "Try this!" She extended her hands, then flung them backwards. Several purple roses emerged all over the vines. The flowers then emitted a colourless, sweet smelling aroma.

The icicicles collectend and formed into a massive, swirling tornado of water, spinning so fiercly that it was cutting into the earth. The tornado then bent over, the top of it about to crash into Kyle and Cutter.

Soshiro created his own Graviga spell to counter Paroi's. He then stood up, clasped his huge hands together, and said, "Barfrost." For a brief moment, Ibara flashed pale blue. "Why thank you, Soshiro," she said. "Now you won't be a problem," she said to Splice.

"Tch! Looks like we'll have to do this the hard way." He growled, after seeing his upper hand quickly lowered. "And what the heck is that smell? Did you leave your perfume open?"

"Careful, Splice." Silver warned. "I'm not sure what these flowers will do to us, so take them out quickly!" He swung his spear, aiming to chop the roses clean off from the thinnest part possible. Splice soon pulled out a couple of daggers and did the same.

Kyle held his sword up. "Now, Gem of Water!" He exclaimed. Once again, the water began getting sucked up into the Gemblade. Cutter looked around at all of the water, unsure of what to do. Keela was unable to get close due to the raging tornado of water surrounding the two, and was forced to stay out of the way.

A little bit of water was sucked into the gemblade, but the tip of the swirling vortex of water hovered just above the warriors. Suddenly, Kasumi's torso appeared out of the water, and held onto the blade of the sword. Ice spread out from his fingertips, crawling accross the blade.

"That perfume will soon cause you keel over and fall asleep on yourselves," Ibara said, chuckling to herself.

"Just as I feared..." Silver said, lowly. He continued to hack away at the roses, while Splice slashed everything that looked plant-like as he used his fire powers to ignite his daggers. Flames ended up spreading all over the place.

Kyle noticed the ice immediately. "Gem of Ice, Take this power..." He whispered. The ice also began to melt away as the cyan gem absorbed it.

Cutter looked at the two with a very concerned expression. It seemed like a stalemate. Kyle couldn't hurt him, but he barely scratched Kyle, either. How long would this go on, if this were to keep up? Trying to be productive, he thrust his spear towards Kasumi's torso to stab it.

"If neither ice or water with harm you..." The entire water tornado literally exploded, sending all the water flying high into the air, causing cutter's attack to miss. A large mass of water, the size of a large pond, now hung in the air above Kyle and Cutter. It began sucking in whatever moisture it could find for miles: the clouds in the air, tiny pockets of moisture--even sweat from the fighters, until it grew to the size of a lake. The water then froze solid, a gigantic ice block in the sky, blocking out most of the sunlight. "Let me test the limits of your weapon," Kasumi's voice rang through the air, loud and clear. Cracks started to appear along the surface of the mass. Then, it simply exploded, massive chunks of ice raining all over the battlefield.

"The odour should be taking effect now," Ibara said, before noticing the ice raining from the sky. "Just in time," she said, before vanishing into the ground inside a flowerbud. "Protect." Soshiro curled into a huge ball, as a white barrier with a turtle shell design encased him, the ice chunks bouncing off of him.

Kyle and Cutter glanced up into the sky as the water formed above them. Kyle held up his sword, ready to counter or guard. As the water froze and cracked, their eyes widened. "This...won't end well." Cutter said. Kyle began to chant again. "Gem of Earth, lend me thy power!" Once again, the green gem began to glow in response. "O sharpened rage, run through that which blocks our future...Stalagmite!" Once again, a large stalagmite rose from the ground. He held his sword up, seemingly trying to channel more energy from it, and stabbed it into the ground. Two more stalagmites formed around the two, both of them piercing the ice as it fell, causing them to break into smaller pieces. Kyle stabbed his sword into the side of one of the stalagmites, creating a hole inside of it. He grabbed Cutter by the arm and dashed inside, just before one of the blocks of ice came crashing down on them.

Splice was beginning to feel dizzy from the odor. But when he saw the ice coming, he sprung into action. He made a great leap towards one of the chunks of ice, his entire body bursting into flames, which he used to thrust himself forward. He burrowed right through the chunk, causing it to break into a bunch of pieces. He then let the flames around him die, and began using his own ice powers to collect the ice around him. He shot out several pieces of ice and snow from his palms, which circled around his body. Pieces and chunks of ice nearby also came to join him as he was now charging up an attack with all the ice.

Silver was unable to get away in time, but was saved by Splice's efforts. He fell to his knees, struggling to stay conscious.

Keela ran back from the area. "Amber, get away!" She screamed. Amber was already running from the icicles falling from the sky. Banzai had jumped high into the air, and was smashing pieces of ice to bits using his staff. Beat had created a protective barrier around himself, but was struggling to hold back the heavy ice shards. Paroi, meanwhile, had closed his eyes, charging his magic. He then opened his eyes, now pure white, and yelled, "BLIZZAJA!" Suddenly, all of the ice in the area froze in place, and turned to powder snow, which soon melted in the desert environment. Paroi was gasping for breath, for the feat had used up much energy.

Soshiro and Ibara had returned to the battlefield, while Kasumi emerged from a puddle on the ground. "Not bad," he said, "It's been a while since I've had to resort to this." He extended his hand out to his side. Suddenly, all the water and snow in the area rushed into his hand, condensing into an impossibly small ball of ice. The ball contorted and grew, until it became a large, thick sword-like weapon with a long thin handle protruding from the end.

Splice landed on the ground, clutching his chest. Some of the ice had left his body in the process, and it felt less than pleasant.

Kyle was a bit relieved, now. With all of the water out of the way, it should be possible to hurt him. Or so he'd hoped. Once the two had left the safety of the stalagmite, the sharp pieces of earth sank beneath the ground from whence they came. Cutter took this chance to retrieve his boomerang, while Keela and Amber returned to the battlefield. Unfortuately, Silver ended up passing out.

Beat and Banzai had both decided to leave the fighting to the newcomers, since they had used much energy fighting in the war. Paroi and Soshiro battled with their spells, sending attacks of all elements flying across the area. Ibara caused a large vine to emerge from the ground, and it shot out in Splice's direction like a large, thorny battering ram. Meanwhile, Kasumi stared down Kyle and the others, massive ice sword in hand.

Splice dove out of the way, and quickly rushed back to counter with a powerful slash to the vine using both daggers.

"We'll need to cooperate if we want to win this." Keela said, arriving next to Kyle and Cutter. "I'll go first. Cover me." She held her sword out in front of her as she approached Kasumi. Kyle looked a bit uneasy about her going, but he put his trust in her and stayed close.

Kasumi swung his massive sword, the top half of it flying off of it, connected by an ice chain to the lower half. The point of the heavy ice blade was now flying towards Keela, being directed by Kasumi.

Cutter ran forward. With a mighty swing of his spear, he slammed his weapon down against the chain, in hopes of throwing it off course. To make sure it didn't strike it's target, Kyle came from the opposite side and did the same. Keela took this chance to charge forward, passing by the ice blade and chain, and head towards Kasumi. She swung her sword to strike his arm holding his weapon.

In a matter of seconds, the blade turned to water, returned to its original shape and froze again just in time for Kasumi to swing the blade at Keela, attempting to hit her with the flat of the blade, which was big and theavy enough to possibly bat her away.

Keela held up her sword to guard the attack. Both blades clashed, but his was clearly the stronger one. Keela was shoved back a good distance, and nearly lost her balance. Cutter ran towards Kasumi and attempted to slash his arm, while Kyle struck the ice blade to try and nullify the blow dealt to Keela.

As soon as Splice got close, the thorns shot out several feet, threatening to stab him.

The blade, being made of solid, dense ice was unaffected by Kyle's attack. The handle of the weapon unlatched, connected by a chain to the blade, and Kasumi jumped several feet backward, the actual weapon held in place using aquakinesis. He then swung the sword around so that it encircled the trio, attempting to bind them with the ice chain.

The chain ended up knocking Keela over on her face, the chain moving over her. Kyle was caught in the attack, but Cutter saw it coming. He charged towards Kasumi, and simply jumped over the chain as if he were jumproping. He performed another jump, now flipping in mid-air with his spear outwards. He came at Kasumi, almost like a spinning propeller.

The chain wrapped around Kyle several times, immobilizing him. Then, Kasumi retracted the chain, bringing Kyle to him and holding him in front of cutter's attack to shield himself.

Panzyr shook the water off his body, looking around in surprise, not expecting to have been thawed out.

"Kyle, No!" Amber cried out. She ran as fast as she could towards them, and pounced on Kasumi. She desperately fought to try and move Kyle out of the way, and in turn make him the vulnerable target. Keela stood up, and rushed towards the group. She extended her sword, and stopped Cutter's attack just before it reached them.

At that point, the weapon melted into water once more, consuming Kyle and Amber. As soon as they were in the mass of water, it froze again, trapping Kyle and Amber in solid ice.

"Kyle! Amber!" Keela cried out in horror.

Cutter silently cursed under his breath. Without another word, he sprung forward and unleashed a flurry of attacks with his spear in one hand and his boomerang in the other. Meanwhile, a faint glow could be seen from the ice...

Gideon and Panzyr approached the frozen mass containing Kyle and Amber, trying to figure out how to safely unthaw them, when the faint glow caught their attention.

"What the...?" The Mobian moose knelt down next to the ice, peering at the glow.

The glow was coming from Kyle's sword. After a few moments of glowing, they could see his arm move within the ice. The sword began to glow red, and the ice quickly began to melt away.

Amber fell to the ground, gasping for breath now that she had been freed. "A-are you alright, Kyle?" She asked.

Kyle was trying to hide the fact that he was shivering as he turned back to look at her. "Yes, I am fine." He moved away from the puddle of water surrounding them, and Amber soon followed. Cutter continued his assault, and Keela joined in right beside him.

This may be too much for me, Kasumi thought to himself. The water reformed into his giant blade weapon in his hand. "Soshiro, come." The massive Soshiro shrunk down until he wsa the same height as Kasumi. "Need help?" Kasumi nodded in the direction of the others. "Sure thing." He placed his hands on the ground, and started radiating violet energy. "Nightglow," he said. A large, purple ring of energy formed around the group of warriors. The ground within the circle was super-heated, and in a second a massive purple inferno would blaze within the ring.

Meanwhile, Ibara created a ring of flowers around Splice, all of them exhaling a green toxic gas.

Noticing the purple energy ring surrounding them, Gideon nudged Beat rather sharply in the shoulder and pointed at it.

"I don't know what that is, but I doubt it means anything good," he said.

As the ring formed around them, Cutter and Keela stopped and looked around. "It's a trap!" Cutter exclaimed. They began to feel the ground under them heat up rapidly as they tried to escape.

"Gem of Fire, Lend me thy power...!" Kyle chanted, hoping to be able to shield them from the heat. The blazing purple inferno blasted them all into the sky, shortly afterwards. Once the attack was over, they landed back on the ground, burnt up from the blast of flames. Kyle was the least charred, but even he was damaged greatly by the attack. Cutter, Amber and Keela collapsed to the ground as soon as they landed, but Kyle was just brought to his knees. "Those flames..those were not normal flames..." Kyle said quietly. Keela and Cutter struggled to stand, their entire body burning up. Cutter repeatedly bashed his spear against the ground, trying to put out the flames covering the wooden stick. Amber, however, was unconscious.

Splice covered his mouth and pinched his nose with one hand, and frantically looked for a way to get out. He ran towards one of the flowers and leaped over it, shooting a blast of flames behind him to propel him higher to ensure his escape.

Soshiro then flung his hand, shooting three large, black energy balls in the direction of the heroes.

Kyle held his sword in a defensive position. "Guardian!" He exclaimed. A small sphere of energy composed of all 6 elements of the Gemblade swirled around him, shielding him from the black energy balls. Cutter and Keela had to roll out of the way to evade the attack.

Splice turned around, now outside of the ring of flowers, and sprinted towards Ibara at an alarming rate. He coated his dagger with ice, and slashed at her as he got close enough. A freezing mist came from his hand as he swung.

The energy balls rose into the air high above them, and began raining red enegry bolts down the warriors. Meanwhile, Kasumi had vanished.

Ibara bent backwards to avoid the blow, and exhaled a pink, sweet smelling aroma into Splice's face.

"Guardian Field!" Kyle exclaimed. Stabbing the ground, the sphere of energy expanded, just big enough to shield his comrades near him. As the bolts rained down on the shield, an idea came to mind. "Gem of Lightning, lend me thy power...Let your power course through our veins." He rose his sword into the air and stabbed the top of the barrier. The barrier sparked with electricity, and the whole atmosphere within it began crackling with lightning. Cutter and Keela stood up, looking around somewhat confused. "Do not fear, I am developing a plan." Kyle said, noticing his comrades looking uneasy. Bolts of lightning struck them all, yet they felt harmless. They felt somewhat numb for a few moments, but soon it felt almost refreshing. A jolt of energy had given them a little more than just a second wind.

As Ibara leaned forward to breath in his face, Splice twirled around to deliver a hard, flaming roundhouse kick into her face. The kick collides with her head, but she doesn't react. her body becomes green and plant-like, long brambled growing out of her face and wrapping around Splice's arms. The brambles were decorated with flaming red and icy blue flowers. The real Ibara emerged from the ground a few feet away. "I didn't think you'd fall for that one."

"Thundaga," Soshiro yelled out, and extended his arm. The electrity Kyle had created was being sucked into and absorbed by his hand. He then extended his other hand. "Ruinga." He fired a blast of non-elemental magic, which looked like a black beam with a white aura.

The field disappeared, as did the crackling electricity within it. The effects, however, still remained. Kyle sprung forward, as the beam headed straight for Cutter. Cutter stood his ground, holding his spear behind him. Once the beam reached him, he swung it hard in an attempt to deflect it. Kyle reached him just in time to do the same. His sword glowed with energy and struck powerfully, greatly increasing the chances of success.

Splice's eyes widened in shock as he realized what he'd just gotten into. He struggled to get free, and began cutting the vines desperately with his dagger. ''oh, That's it. From now on, I'm never going to battle without a bottle of weed killer. ''He thought.

Kyle and Cutter managed to deflect the spell, and Soshiro fired another Ruinga at the oncoming one, causing both of them to merge into one huge black ball, and hover stationarily in midair. Suddenly, Kasumi had reapeared behind Cutter out of fine mist, and attempted to kick him in the back to knock him into the giant Ruinga spell.

The gas Ibara had exhaled earlier should now begin to take effect ((if Splice got a whiff of it)). Splice would be finding it difficult to focus, and his senses slightly dulled, depending on how much of it he inhaled.

Cutter was taken by surprise, and flew towards the sphere of energy. Before he reached it, he stabbed the ground with his spear, causing him to stop before getting too close. Kyle immediately swung at him, almost as soon as he finished kicking Cutter. At the same time, Keela came from behind Kasumi, aiming to cleave him in half with her sword.

Splice had only gotten a small whiff of it, due to spinning around before it really got to him. Once again he began to feel slightly dizzy. He grunted and growled, trying to stay focused as he cut through the vines.

Kasumi immediately melted into water, and reformed some distance away. He then raised his hands, and created a large tidal wave of water, which he directed towards Kyle and Keela.

Kyle turned to face the wave of water. He swung his sword, creating a large gust of wind to blow the tidal wave off course.

Suddenly, from not to far away, a rocket-like ball of flame shot into the air. It was Burst, or more specifically Blaze, who was finally ready to join the battle. He shot a blast of flame from each arm. One targeted the tidal wave and was hot enough to evaporate a majority of it, and the other targeted Ibara. Idly hovering in the air, he called out to his comrads, "My apologies for being so late to assist. Allow me to make it up in progress."

Soshiro extended his arms. "Firaga." He redirected the fire away from Ibara, and absorbed it into his palms. "Finally, someone for me to fight," he said cockily.

Panzyr snorted and panted. "If only there was any Darkness for me to absorb," he muttered to himself. He then looked at Gideon.

"Musu! Strike me with a Darkness attack!"

"Can't you call me by my name for once?" the moose said, but began to charge up a Dark Pulse attack. He then fired it at Panzyr, while the beast held his ground and began to absorb the attack, although he was still taking damage from it. He grit his sharp teeth and continued to absorb the Dark Pulse.

Blaze directed his attention to Soshiro. I'll be with you in a minute Splice, he thought, First... this guy just made my list. He hovered down to ground level and crossed his arms. "I remember you from Blussora. You were annoying then and you haven't changed a bit," he mocked, "I may not be able to defeat you, but I can give you the ass-kicking you so desperately deserve."

"You can try," Soshiro said, then extended his arms, preparing another spell. "Torrent." A massive, swirling vortex of water shot out of Soshiro's hands, heading straight for Blaze.

Blaze threw his arms to the sides, releasing a wave of heat. Like he did to Kasumi's wave, the vortex of water was easily evaporated.

Suddenly, a bright flash emitted from in the center of the battlefield, and out tumbled Ciel, holding onto Tsunami, seemingly out of nowhere.

"What the--" Soshiro said, visibly surprised. 'How did she escape?" Kasumi asked, shock clear in his voice.

Kyle, not knowing who she was, didn't waste a second. This is my chance! He thought. He jumped backwards, holding his sword with the tip facing the sky again. "Gem of Lightning, Lend me thy power..." He spoke as he leaped back. The yellow gem began to glow in response. Keela noticed Kyle preparing something, and ran over towards Blaze. She grabbed him by the shoulder from behind, "We need to pull back, and quickly!" She whispered.

Kyle spun his sword around in front of him quickly, and suddenly swung it to his side. He began to spin around a bit, electricity gently crackling from the blade. He was seemingly drawing on the air with streams of electricity that stayed in place. "I, who stand in the full light of the heavens, command thee who would open the gates of hell, to unleash thy fury of thunder!" As he spoke, the electricity he created from the blade rose above him and vanished. Soon afterwards, three rings of light appeared in the sky, hovering above Kasumi and Soshiro. They were sparking with electricity, and had collected so much power within them that the sky began to darken. He stopped with his sword at his side, the blade was brimming with power. "Come forth divine lightning!! This is the end!" He swung his sword upwards, now holding it high above his head. "INDIGNATION!" Through the rings, Large and powerful bolts of lightning struck through them at full force. The bolts of lightning tore through the ground, nearly obliterating anything under the rings. Large pieces and chunks of the ground scattered everywhere as the lightning showed no mercy.

Then, as suddenly as it appeared, all the electricity in the area simply froze, like frames of animation. The lightning now looked like glowing statues, and under it stood V, hand raised and glowing neon green, and expression of pure irritation on his face. "I have had enough of you all," he snarled.

Kasumi, Ibara and Soshiro were absolutely dumbfounded by the odd turn of events. "L-lord V," Kasumi said, "W-what bring you here?"

"Velious", Wes muttered, although he had no idea why or how the name suddenly popped into his head. Even stranger, he could feel a weak, subtle force, almost like gravity, tugging at him.

Around that time, another portal appeared close to Splice and Ibara, and Smash's group stepped out. Splice had just managed to get free from Ibara, now that she was distracted. As happy as he was to see Smash's team, he couldn't bring himself to say anything now that V had appeared.

Smash looked around, and gasped when he saw V. "Oh, crap." Pearl, Violet and Crystal followed his gaze, and gasped in shock when they saw V holding the lightning in place. "We're in trouble."

"Oh yes you are," V said, gone was the sarcastic tone in his voice. This time, he meant business. He swung his hand hard in an arc, dispersing the electricity. "I'm tired of all of you running around, trying to get in the way of progress. And I'm tired of my minions failing to dispose of you--" he shot a glance at Kasumi and the others, who practically melted under his gaze. "But this time, I'm going to--" he suddenly stopped as his eyes rested on Wes, the person who held remarkable resemblance to him. "It's you."

"Uh, hi there," Wes replied, trying not to show his fear.

Tab's eyes widened as she noticed V, the only person on the field not cowering in fear. "Who is that?" she asked, taking quite a few steps back.

"That's our main enemy." Smash answered, staring at V with wide eyes. He wasn't aware that the man could even hear him at this distance. "And he may very well end our lives right now, judging by his drastic change of attitude."

"Well, Maybe there's a reason for that!" Cutter growled angrily at V's mini-rant. "Maybe WE'RE tired of YOU guys in our world!"

"I would advise against that, Cutter." Keela warned, after noticing that the minions were nearly broken down with fear.

Smash noticed V and Wes staring at each other, and took the time to compare them. "Yep, no doubt about it, those two are verrry similar..." He said. "Perhaps..." His voice trailed off as he stroked his chin. He then shook his head, "Either way, the real battle begins now."

Tsunami rose to her feet and brushed herself off, turning to face the heroes. She looked around, taking in their numbers and the damage that's been done by the fighting. The whites of her eyes changed to cyan and the pupils to dark blue, while her thoughts raced as she began strategizing.

Ciel fell to her knees under the strain of her powers in her weakened state. Beat quickly rushed over to help her. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Yeah, I should be okay in a few moments." A faint, golden glow appeared over her body. "You shouldn't be worrying about me right now," she said, and nodded towards the tyrant standing before them.

Blaze was furious, having been humiliated before by one of V's underbosses, and sharing the feelings of Burst within him. Foolishly he charged at the god-like being, burning with the heat of a thousand suns.

V raised his hand, then swung it downwards. He telekinetically pulled Blaze's head downwards in an attempt to smash it into the ground.

Unlike previous instances when Blaze let his rage get the better of him, this time he was quick to react. He separated his body into several wisps of flame to escape the initial pull, but was still forced to the ground. Now crouched over, he attempted still to move forward. He had been in a situation like this be for, and did not intend to let it end the same way. "No... I've had enough of you... This ends now!"

"Know your place child," V said. Raising his arm upwards, he created a large blast of emerald energy appear underneath Blaze.

Blaze took the hit hard, growling in pain. He would not, however, let this stop him. Intense flames met the energy, creating a struggle of raw power. "Firestorm: Chaos Inferno!" he shouted. The fire began to swirl like a flaming cyclone. Much of the sand around him became glass under the heat.

V slowly approaches Blaze. A small opening appears in the tornado, allowing Blaze to see V walking towards him like a zombie. Another V steps out from the original, and starts walking towards Smash and the others. A third clone appears and walks towards Banzai, Beat and Ciel.

Kyle's group quickly met up with Smash's. "I knew you would come." Kyle said to Smash. He quickly turned to face the V clone, regaining his battle stance. He gave a look of concern, now seeing three of him when it only took one to diminish one of his strongest spells. "What new devilry is this?"

"Stay on your toes." Smash ordered to everyone. "He is by far not to be underestimated."

"How are we gonna go about this, anyway?" Splice asked, quietly. "You remember what happened last time..."

"We attack in coordination." Smash said. "Always make sure you've got each others' backs. Crystal, you stay back, but make sure we don't take in too much damage."

Crystal nodded, and stepped away from the group.

"Alright," Tab whispered, preparing her dagger. "I am not sure about this, but I will do my best."

Away from the group, Silver began to regain consciousness. He slowly stood up, using his spear for support. "Did...did we..win...?" He asked to no one in particular. His vision was blurry, and he was feeling dizzy and somewhat weak.

"Let's have a little fun," All three Vs said in unison. The clone near Smash's group suddenly vanished. He then reappeared in front of Kyle, and made to punch him in the face.

Once he disappeared, Smash immediately knew what was going to happen next. He just needed to know where. When V reappeared in front of Kyle, both he and Keela sprung forward and blocked his punch with their fists and sword respectively. Kyle took the chance to try and stab him directly afterwards.

V then raised his other hand, and flicked. A suddenly, powerful force blasted the group away from V. If that wasn't enough already, he teleported again, leaving a large ball of green energy in his place. he reappeared behind Keela, and kicked her with the same force as before into the energy ball.

The group went scattering everywhere. Smash and Cutter managed to recover quickly, just in time to see Keela getting knocked towards the energy ball. Keela tried to drive her sword into the ground to keep herself away from it. Meanwhile, Pearl and Violet came behind him and tried to punch him in the back together.

Tab, being knocked away by V's force, landed next to Silver, who was beginning to wake up. Not knowing whether he was an ally or enemy, Tab jumped up and put herself in a defensive position. Silver just glanced towards her, giving her a blank stare. She could see that he was not quite stable, as he was struggling to keep standing straight, using his spear for support. They both then heard a groan somewhere near them. Amber was waking up as well.

Tab quickly rushed to Amber's aid, surprised to see her on the battlefield. "Are you alright!?" she asked, helping her up.

Amber coughed a bit. She was badly burned. "Y-yeah...I'm glad you came.." She said, quietly. "I-Is everyone alright..?" She asked.

Tab quickly scanned the battlefield. People were either defeated or badly injured, and the people who were in better shape were battling V. "No, everyone is not alright," she replied. "Listen, you should try and find a safe place to rest for now. Things aren't looking very good."

The clone teleported once again, and reappeared above Pearl and Violet. Using telekinesis, he pushed them both into the ground. After, with a simple hand motion, he shot the energy ball towards Keela.

Almost as soon as he reappeared, Splice and Smash leaped towards him; Splice coming at him with a flying kick, while Smash was throwing a powerful punch towards him. Pearl and Violet stood back up, after being shoved into the ground, and looked above them.

Keela looked towards the energy ball, and prepared to defend herself. Suddenly, a crystal shaped barrier formed around her, shielding her from the energy.

"Hmph." V extended his arms to his sides, and shot Splice and Smash away with a powerful blast of telekinesis. Meanwhile, Panzyr had collapsed on the ground, having absorbed a continuous stream of Dark Pulse. Gideon was panting, having exerted a lot of energy to keep the attack going. Suddenly, the blood-red markings on the beast's body flared up brightly, and he started to get up as he transformed; he grew larger, roughly seven feet tall now, and more savage and demonic-looking. Although he would most likely be no match for V, the heat of battle was renewing his energy. He roared at the villain.

"Oh look," the clone nearest to him said, "another mindless beast." He said, before he charged at it, both hands glowing neon green and blue. Standing up on his hind legs, he manifested dual HellFyre Claws and charged at the V clone. As they charged at eachother, the clone suddenly vanished. Reappearing just behind Panzyr a moment later, a large green energy blade appeared in his hand, which he used to stab at Panzyr's back.

Smash and Splice were thrown back to the ground, but they both managed to quickly recover before taking too much damage from the landing. While V was still directly above them, Violet and Pearl attempted to uppercut him from below. Cutter leaped into the air towards his side, and thrust his spear towards his arm.

"Are you okay, Miss Keela?" Crystal asked from behind, after letting down the barrier.

"Yes. I'm fine." Keela said, turning to look at Crystal. She soon turned her attention back to the battle, and hurried to join her comrades. Meanwhile, Silver finally came to his senses, and saw where the real battle was taking place. He gripped his spear tightly with both hands, and charged towards the V clone that threatened Banzai, Beat and Ciel.

Growling, Panzyr swung his arm behind him, the energy blade colliding with his HellFyre Claw. The clone smiled, as Panzyr's arm was telekinetically held in place. He gracefully hovered high above him, hands glowing brightly. Once he was on top of him, he turned his palms to face Panzyr. Thrusting his arms outward, he fired a massive blast of green psychokinetic energy at Panzyr. Panzyr struggled to pull his arm free, but it was no use. He finally decided to "throw" the claw at the energy ball, swinging his free arm and sending a claw-shaped wave of HellFyre Magick at the psychokinetic energy blast. "HRRAAAAGH!!"

Meanwhile, the clone fighting against Smash's group extended its arms, holding Violet and Pearl in place. Then, with a wave of his right arm, he redirected Cutter's attack towards them.

Just before Cutter's attack could strike them, Splice came at him with another flying kick. His kick connected with Cutter's spear, knocking it back upwards to slash at V while Splice's foot was aimed for his side. The clone simply teleported, avoiding the attacks all together. It reappeared behind Splice a moment later, hovering in the air, and delivered an incredibly fast backhand to his head.

Splice fell face first towards the ground, ending up landing on both of the girls below him. Smash and Kyle leaped up into the air behind him, Smash clenching both of his fists together to slam against his head while Kyle used his sword in a similar fashion. The clone extended both his hands, and caught both attacks. Gripping tightly, he pulled them both down, and flung Smash and Kyle into eachother.

Meanwhile, Ciel had began to radiate a faint yellow energy.

Silver stood in front of her and the other heroes next to her, holding his spear outwards to his side. He had a determined look in his eyes, as he faced the V clone approaching them. The clone pulled on the air, and Silver found his spear being yanked out of his hands.

Silver held on tightly, instinctively grabbing it with his other hand. The sudden yank caused him to stumble forward, but he managed to keep it in his hands.

Tsunami watched the fighting, taking in the abilities and fighting styles of her would-be opponents. She found herself fixed mostly on Smash's fight, seeing as it was the most interesting. But she would not just stand there and watch V have all the fun. She came here to fight, and that's what she was about to do. All she needed was an opening....

While the V clones were distracted, Blaze's Chaos Inferno disappeared, taking the beam of energy with it. He observed the battles briefly, trying to determine which of them he should join.

The clones all had devilish smirks on their faces, their looks never changing, and not showing a single sign of fatigue. Meanwhile, from a distance and high in the air, the real V hovered above the area, observing the fight. "Considering all the trouble they've caused me," he said, "I thought they'd put up more of a fight."

Gideon was not sure what to do now. He doubted his guns would do anything against the clones, but he felt there was no harm in trying. Pulling out his rifle, he took careful aim at the head of the clone fighting Silver. He then fired, a deafening crack filling the air.

The clone simply raised its hand, and the bullet stopped in midair, flipped itself around, and fired back at Gideon.

Just as he rose his hand, Silver lunged forward, attempting to stab the clone with his spear. However, the spear suddenly froze in place, sending Silver tumbling forward. He quickly got back to his feet, more shocked than hurt. Seeing his spear hanging in mid-air boggled his mind. He knew that if he tried to take it back, something bad would happen. He turned around and tried to punch the clone across the face.

Would have been surprised if that worked, Gideon thought to himself as he quickly rolled out of the way, the bullet whistling over him.

The three V clones then teleported back to the center of the arena, standing in a triangular pattern, each one facing a different set of heroes. Then, extending both arms to their sides and heads bent in a slight bow, they all took one step back, merging back into one being. "What a pathetic display. Honestly, I thought you'd be much more formidable, after all you've done." He then tilted his head back up. "Now, I will show you why I'm revered as a god." With a simple twist of his foot, a web of intertwining, neon green circuits spread out all over the floor of the arena, decorating the desert with a bizzare pattern.

"Hey, at least we're alive." Splice grumbled. "More than I could hope for."

Smash immediately took notice of the green patterns covering the desert. "Everyone, be careful!" He shouted. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." His voice lowered as he looked all around them.

V chuckled and raised his arms. Suddenly, a massive mound of sand rose behind the group, forming an enormous hill of sorts. The hill rose higher and higher, and the ground under the heroes slowly turned to falling sand.

"Oh CRAAAP!!" Smash yelled at the top of his lungs. He desperately tried to climb up the hill to safety, as did everyone else. They scrambled frantically to try and keep from falling in.

Farther away from the group, they could see Crystal slowly rising into the air. Her eyes were closed and her arms rose above her head. Her hair flowed gently as she levitated above the ground. Amber was holding onto her feet, looking down at everyone else in horror. "Guys! Hang on!" She cried out. "Crystal, we have to do something...!"

"I'm so sorry...This is all I can do!" Crystal exclaimed, regretfully.

Off in the distance, a red object was approaching from the sky at a high speed. It wasn't very noticeable at first, but it was flying towards the battlefield quickly.

Tab quickly followed after Smash in an attempt to reach a safe spot on the hill. As she was racing up the hill, a strange red object in the sky caught her eye. She instinctively turned her head to look at it, but then quickly turned back realizing that she had to focus on getting to safety.

Focusing on the hill, Gideon used his Wings of Dark Flight ability to dart up there like a black flash, then held out his hand to Smash. "Quickly!" he said. Panzyr, meanwhile, flew towards the top of the hill, but not before grabbing Splice and carrying him up with him.

Smash didn't waste a single second. He grabbed his hand, and turned back to grab the hand of his sister, who in turn grabbed Violet's hand. As Panzyr flew with Splice, Splice held his hand out to Tab as they flew over her head. "Hurry!" He cried out.

Grunting a bit, the Mobian moose started to haul Smash and the others up to safety. Panzyr slowed his flight and descended a bit lower so Tab could grab Splice's hand.

"Got it!" Tab said, grabbing Splice's hand. While she was being pulled up, she took the time to glance over at the flying red object. "There's something coming this way!"

Panzyr briefly turned his head to look at it, then flew up to the top of the hill, depositing Splice and Tab safely.

"Hey wait, don't drop us yet!" Splice exclaimed. "I don't trust this hill!"

The red object flashed, and soon sped up greatly. It grew in size as it got closer, soon revealing to be a large red airship that only most people in Smash's group would recognize.

Panzyr looked confused. Gideon looked at the sand below him.

Ciel's glow grew slightly brighter, causing her to finally notice it. "Huh?" she gasped, then a look of shock came over her. "Oh no..." This had only happened once before, in Station Square, just when V was about to capture them.

V glanced upwards, and the hill stopped growing for a second. He dropped his hands, causing the sand hill to suddenly crash back onto the ground, taking everyone on top of it with them. He then raised his left hand, causing a large geyser of sand to spring up from the ground. he then directed the geyser to attack the airship.

Panzyr leaped into the air and hovered there, managing to avoid being sent tumbling back to the ground. Again, Gideon used his Wings of Dark Flight to traverse safely to the ground.

Still holding onto Tab's hand, Splice jumped up and grabbed onto Panzyr with his free hand. The extra weight was not a problem for the Fallen.

Silver, Cutter, Kyle and Keela were the only ones left behind. Kyle stabbed his sword into the ground, the green gem on his handle glowed as he silently chanted to it. The sand falling back down towards them gently brushed past their legs as it got closer.

Meanwhile, the sand geyser stopped before it came in contact with the ship. It instead hit a newly formed barrier surrounding the ship; a green colored, beehive patterned deflector shield. He flew over the group's heads, and soon let down a rope ladder for the heroes on the sand hill. Splice looked up at the ship, rather surprised to see it. "Gizmo!!" He cried out.

Suddenly, a large, gravity-like force started pulling the characters towards Ciel, who was now glowing fiercly. the airship above was also being pulled downwards towards the warriors. "What is this?" V said keeping himself in place using telekinesis, but the force was only growing stronger.

Both Gideon and Panzyr looked at Ciel; the glow coming from her was practically blinding.

Inferna latched onto Burst. Tendril began beating his shadow wings madly, trying to keep from being slammed into Ciel.

Levi quickly pulled out his handheld decive and checked its readings. He nearly dropped the machine out of shock. "This isn't good," he said, trying to keep his footing. V, on the other hand, was doing just fine avoiding Ciel. "I always knew you'd be trouble," he said as he raised his hand towards her. "Disappear." Then, out of nowhere, Wes teleported right above V, and sent a powerful kick towards V's head. V, surprised by his 'twin's' sudden appearance, was absolutely dumbfounded when his telekinesis couldn't stop the attack. For the first time in years, he took the hit directly, sending him flying for a few seconds before righting himself in the air and landing on his feet. He absently rubbed the area where he was hit and, although it didn't hurt due to his power, was still completely taken aback. "How..." was all he managed to get out before chaos unfolded.

For a while, everyone's attention had turned to V, taking a direct blow for the first time. Everyone in Smash's group stared, their eyes nearly bulging out of their heads. Within the Airship, though, Gizmo was more concerned with the readings he was getting from Ciel. "Oh..my god..." He turned to Kleft and Kitty, along with 4 other hedgehogs who had come aboard. "The readings are so far off the chart...I-I don't even..." Their attention turned back to Ciel herself, and they all gasped in shock when they saw what happened next.

Ciel exploded in a blinding flash of light, a massive tear in space appeared in her place. A swirling blue/green/black vortex of colour could be seen inside the tear, pulling in everything in the vicinity, heroes and sand included.

"AHHHH!! HOLY CRAP!!" Splice screamed at the top of his lungs. "MOVE! MOVEMOVEMOVEMOVEMOVEMOVE!!!" Splice yelled, frantically flailing around while Panzyr still held him and Tab. Startled, the Fallen started to fly away from the rift, but he was hardly going anywhere. Eventually, he was going backwards, getting closer and closer to the rift. Then, with a yell, he was pulled inside, along with Splice and Tab. Gideon, who had been trying to run away from the rift, soon followed inside.

Smash felt his heart sink when he saw what looked like impending doom. "Oh, noo...." He said, quietly. "She tore a hole in the time space continuem!" His attention turned to V, now giving him a sharp glare. "Dang it, man! You see, THIS is why you don't go on interdimensional conquests!"

V simply turned his head down, and showed a sly smile. Even with his powers, the growing force of the rip in space continued to pull him in. Accepting this fate, he crossed his arms and said to Smash, "This is far from over, boy." With that, he allowed himself to be taken into the rift. By now, the force was so strong that it was impossible to resist. Beat and Banzai were swept in soon after, due to their proximity to Ciel.

Kyle tried to back away from the vortex, holding onto his sister's arm. "W-What is this...!?"

Cutter stabbed the ground with his spear, and tried to hold on for dear life. Silver was already nearly sucked inside.

Crystal and Amber began to float towards the vortex at an alarming speed. Since they were in the air, there was nothing to keep them from going in. "Crystaaaal..." Amber said in a warning tone. "

Levi tried to dig his heels into the sand but to no avail. he was slowly sucking in as well.

Crystal and Amber surprisingly made it in there before Silver, who was almost right next to the vortex. Soon, Silver, Cutter, Kyle and Keela ended up getting sucked in. Gizmo's airship soon flew over everyone's heads, nearly throwing them off balance in the air, and headed straight for the vortex. "Everybody hold on!" Gizmo shouted.

Tendril and Inferna were soon sucked into the vortex. Tsunami began to run in the opposite direction but, despite her speed, found herself unable to resist the pull of the vortex and was sucked in as well.

Blaze tried his hardest to fly in the opposite direction of the rift. To his surprise, Demon appeared in a flash of blacklight a short distance in front of him. As if his mere appearance weren't odd enough, he also seemd to be uneffected by the pull of the rift. "Wha-- What are you?" Blaze asked in confusion. Demon simply laughed in response, watching Blaze and the others struggle. Dude, we have to go in there and help them, what are you waiting for? Burst thought to Blaze, No. It's too dangerous, Blaze replied, ''My power is virtually useless outside of any zone. We'll both be goners. ''Demon opened a portal with his sword, and stepped through it. With one final burst of flame to propell himself forward, Blaze followed him through.

Unable to resist the force of the vortex at this intensity, everyone was soon sucked inside...

Part 8: Inverse
The heroes were propelled through a multicoloured tunnel of lights. Golden tendrils wrapped around the edges of the vortex like vines. Within the tunnel, the heroes found that, while they felt they were traveling to some unknown destination, they could still move around freely, as if in water. However, traveling with the heroes were V and his three henchmen.

"What the heck is going on!?" Wes exclaimed, struggling to comprehend the situation.

"It's just like before," Beat said, "only this time we're awake for the trip."

Tab, absolutely frazzled by the recent turn of events, glanced around the tunnel searching for one of her friends. "Guys..?"

"It appears that we're traveling somewhere other than another dimension," Levi said. "My APD doesn't work in here, so I can't say where."

"APD?" Beat asked.

"All-purpose device," Levi replied, and showed him his tiny, greyish-blue phone-like device.

"What about Ciel?" Banzai asked worriedly.

"I can't say," Kleft said, "although she's probably okay, most likely drained from all this."

"By the way, we should probably stick together," Levi said, "otherwise we could get separated like last time."

"Then everybody, gather in one spot!" Smash called out. He then turned to look at Gizmo's Airship, and stroked his chin. "How about that spot..? Wait." He turned to Levi. "Levi, How badly do you think this ship will get roughed up in this place?" He asked as his group began to make their way towards him.

"I can't say," Levi said, "I've never done interdimensional travel of this magnitude before."

Splice, being the closest to Tab, held his hand out to her. "Are you alright?" He asked, now much calmer than before. "We gotta stay close, this could get rough."

Suddenly, a large blast of emerald green energy hit the side of the airship, narrowly missing the others trying to get to it.

Cold:Uhhh,What the hell?

V and his henchmen had also been sucked into the void, and V was intent on finishing his fight. "How tragic it would be to die in this place," he said, "far away from any loved ones. They won't even be able to retrieve your bodies."

Black:V

The airship shook from the blast, taking some damage. The shields were still on, however, so the hull was protected for the most part. "Gah! What was that!?" Gizmo's voice could be heard over the speaker. They could hear a chao, seemingly giving a status report. "Keep the shields up at maximum power! Who knows what else we could run into here..."

Smash looked over at Amber and Crystal. "You two should get inside the ship. It looks like things are going to get even more dangerous now."

The two nodded, and flew towards the ship the best they could.

Two large, flaming balls of green psychic energy formed in V's hands, which he proceeded to throw at the airship. The orbs would explode in a blinding emerald explosion on contact.

Before going inside, Crystal flew upwards in the way of the orbs, and formed a crystal shaped barrier around herself. One big enough to defend the ship from the explosions.

Smash and Kyle flew towards V, both simultaneously attacking him to draw his attention away from the airship.

Cold:(Appears behinds V and holds him down)

((For the LAST time, you can't just put something like that. You NEED to give people a chance to react first.))

Suddenly, a powerful force pushed Kyle, Smash and Cold away from V, sending them flying in all directions. He then extended his arm, and telekinetically pulled Crystal towards him.

Cold:Hmph

((They're flying through a wormhole. There is nowhere to land.))

Smash and Kyle soon regained their composure, and began flying back towards V. Cutter and Pearl flew upwards and grabbed Crystal's arms, pulling her back towards the ship. Smash let out a blast of energy, propelling himself towards V at an alarming rate as he transformed into his high tension state. He, Kyle and Violet sped towards him once more, ready to attack in sync.

Cold:(Powers up and heads towards V)

"Enough." V said. Once Smash got close enough, he swung his hand, aiming to deal a powerful back hand to his head, simultaneously releasing a blast of energy that would knock everyone away from him.

Panzyr, meanwhile (still in Fallen form), was aiming to attack V from behind, perhaps take a nice, big bite out of his flesh.

Smash held up his arm, blocking V's backhand. He gritted his teeth, determined to match his strength. The blast of energy pushed him back, but he forced himself to withstand it. He began to power up his own energy at the same time, the sky blue aura around him growing intensely.

Kyle and Violet were knocked away, but soon managed to regain their composure. Meanwhile, Cutter and Pearl managed to get Crystal inside the airship safely.

Cold:(Still going at V with a dragon fist)

Rapid then jumped in. As Cold went towards V, Rapid ran the path the dragon fist was going. "Cold, I've got an idea." Rapid said.

((I wasn't aware you were even In this roleplay. O_o; ~Smash The Echidna~ http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100421224452/sonicfanon/images/0/04/Smash_life.png 02:57, September 19, 2011 (UTC)))

((Where did he come from? ))

Cold:(Smiles)RAP BUDDY,go on ahead.

Rapid whispers in Cold's ear, "I'll shoot a bunch of energy blasts at him to distract him while you get him while he's focused on me. Sound good?"

Cold:(Whispers)Yeah.

"I've come to the conclusion that..." V started, "that none of you pose a threat." With a snap of his fingers, everyone was frozen in place, bound by his powerful telekinesis. He then eyed each of the warriors individually, and then silently chuckled to himself. "And all of you were truly naive enough to think you stood a chance."

((Would this include the people inside of the airship?))

((Yes))

Though everyone was frozen in place and unable to move, Smash refused to let it end here. He began struggling against the bind that held him down. He began twitching and vibrating, fighting back against his powerful telekinesis. The aura around him, which had also been frozen, began flickering slightly, trying to flow freely again. His shaking gradually became more intense as he tried to build up his energy.

Rapid's position was uncomfortable for himself. Rapid struggled to move. He twitched a bit.

Cold:(Vibrates fast to break free)Uhhh!

Lisa:AHHH

Gideon and Panzyr, meanwhile, tried to use their Black Cloak ability to become temporarily intangible. It didn't seem to be working, however.

Skate:(Appears)AHHHHHHHH,CHAOS BLAST!(heads to V)

Flame:(Appears)AAAAAAAAAAH,FIRE NOVA BLAST!(heads to V)

V then brought his hands in front of him, palms facing eachother, and started to push his hands together. Suddenly, all the people who had been immobilized felt a sudden pressure being exerted on them from all sides. The pressure grew stronger and stronger, and threatened to crush them if nothing was done.

((Ryu - Nuuuh! We go smoosh now! D=))

((Nah, no one's gonna die. It just feels like their being crushed. BTW Sorry for how God-moddy this all seems, but let's just say I had to make sure everyone knew who they were dealing with.))

((Ryu-Okay. and it's alright.))

((Either way, I'm not going down without a fight.~Smash The Echidna~ http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100421224452/sonicfanon/images/0/04/Smash_life.png 19:04, September 20, 2011 (UTC)))

They struggled against the telekinetic bind, and tried as hard as they could to overcome the pressure. For most, it seemed hopeless. "Oh Gems..of the Gemblade, l-lend me thy power..." Kyle's voice was strained as he chanted. All of the gems on his sword began to glow in response. "Lend me the power..to rid this world of evil, to shine the holy light upon the darkness..nngh..and spread peace and prosperity around the world! Oh, Gems of the Gemblade...Lend Me Thy Power!" The gems would then shoot out of the sword's handle, and circle around it for a few seconds. They glowed brightly, powering up to their full extent before flying back into their place in the sword. The Gemblade glowed brightly, beginning Kyle's transformation.

Smash was now getting desperate. He built up his energy as much as possible. His aura was being smothered by the pressure, but he was fighting back. His aura soon changed from sky blue to green, along with his fur. Cyan stripes began to form on his arms and legs...

Noticing the energy being radiated from Kyle and Smash, V used more of his power: to hurl the massive airship - with everyone on it still frozen - towards Smash and Kyle.

With a brilliant flash of light, Kyle had completed his transformation. He was now glowing each color of the gems, the color slowly changing between each one. After the transformation, he found himself able to move, if for just a few moments. He turned around, hearing everyone in the ship crying out warnings. He held his hands outward towards the ship, holding his sword sideways. He was ready to stop the airship right where it was.

Smash soon let out a large blast of energy, possibly destroying the bind around him and forcing the pressure away from him. The next chance he would get, he would fly towards V as if he were shot out of a cannon.

Crystal, from inside the ship, was trying to use her power to dispel the effects of the telekinetic bind and the enclosing pressure around her. She was sweating bullets, almost using up all of her energy on it.

Without breaking a sweat, V flung his arm outward, using his powerful telekinesis to try and throw Smash into Kyle with great force.

Smash surprisingly wasn't thrown away. Instead, he just stopped in place. He was slowly being pushed back, but he wasn't going anywhere quickly.

V was surprised that Smash wasn't moved so easily, but not shaken. He the switched tactics, and used more psychonetic force than before to bring Smash into him.

As Smash was drawn closer to him, he immediately thought of one move in particular that he could try to use. But he needed to wait for the opportune moment. He allowed himself to come closer, though he knew he was taking a big risk. As V pulled him in, Kyle stopped the airship as it collided with his hands. It took a lot of strength to do, but he managed. He held it in place, hoping that everyone else inside was alright.

Crystal soon found herself collapsing to the floor of the ship, gasping for breath. She looked up quickly, seeing everyone else around her still struggling to break free. Some of them were even crying out in pain. She wasted no time trying to free them as well.

And suddenly, everyone found themselves in the middle of a large park in Station Square.

"What," said Gideon flatly.

Beat ungracefully landed on the soft grass, with Banzai landing on top of him shortly afterwards. "Oof! Would...you mind...getting off me."

Banzai quickly jumped off his friend. "Sorry bud--" he stopped suddenly. "Why is the grass blue?"

After getting up and dusting himself off, Beat realized that Banzai was right: the grass was royal blue, and the sky was citrus yellow. It was Station Square alright, although it seemed so...different.

V gracefully lowered himself onto the ground, while Kasumi landed on his feet. Soshio wasn't so graceful, and ended up falling on Ibara, almost crushing her, even at normal size. As he looked around, V's smug face slowly faded as he suddenly realized something: he had no idea where they were.

Smash stopped in place, as V was distracted with their surroundings. "Hold up, what." He looked around, and IMMEDIATELY knew that something was wrong. "Holy crap, Are we back at that alternate dimension!?" He exclaimed.

"Alternate dimension?" Splice asked. "Y-you don't mean...That place, do you??"

"What are you talking about?" said Gideon. "What dimension...??"

"There was this time, like a year ago, where our dimension was merging with an alternate parallel one." Splice explained, quickly. "Smash and Speedy went there to try and solve the problem, but I didn't go in there so I don't know what it was like."

"This is Mobius -1.768," Levi said after consulting his APD. "This is an alternate dimension, but probably not the same one you guys went to," Levi explained.

"Okay, so how do we get out of here?" Kleft asked.

"You don't," V said, then smiled. "That's it," he said to himself softly. "Yes, now it all makes sense..."

Panzyr looked at V as if he had gone off his rocker.

"Sorry everyone, but I have things to attend to." And with that, V vanished into thin air, taking his henchmen with him.

"Oh boy." Splice said, flatly.

Gizmo's airship rose into the air, just a little bit above the ground. "Is everyone okay?" Gizmo asked his crew members, along with the people outside.

"Yeah," Banzai replied, "well mostly."

"Guys," Levi said, "this isn't just an alternate dimension. This is a whole other plane of existence."

"English?" Banzai said.

"It means that, while you can easily hop from one world to the next, this place in on a whole new level. I didn't think Ciel was that powerful." He then looked towards the unconscious body of Ciel, lying in the center of the group.

"So, can we get back home?" Beat asked before rushing over to her.

"Not sure. Traveling through planes is much harder than going through dimensions."

"How so?"

"Well, look at it this way. Think of the universe as a giant skyscraper. Every floor is a different plane, while every room is another dimension. It's easy to walk from one room to another, but it's harder to walk upstairs to the next floor and find the exact same room that was downstairs."

"Is there even a top plane?" asked Gideon. "I doubt it...we don't even know which 'floor' we're on, do we?"

"Don't know," Levi said. "There may be. But right now we need a way to get out of this one."

Smash groaned, rubbing his forehead with his two fingers. "Whyyy..."

"The only way I can think of is Ciel." Gizmo said, now stepping out of his airship as it docked in mid-air. "But after what we went through, I doubt she could do that again anytime soon."

"Then what the heck are we supposed to DO?" Splice asked, feeling distressed. "Is there anyone in this dimension who's got as much interdimensional power as Ciel that could help us?"

((Ryu-Interdimensional power, you say? ..nah, nvm. He can only affect his own realm, really :<))

"AND control their power properly?" Smash added.

Meanwhile, the people in Smash's group who had just joined them for the battle, had absolutely no clue what had just happened.

"Guys," Beat said as he walked back to the group, carrying what looked like a newspaper. "Look at this." He handed the paper to Levi, whose jaw literally dropped when he saw the front page. He read the headline out loud: "Mayor Velious declares new plan for tackling crime." Printed big on the page was a picture of a person who looked a lot like V and Wes, dressed in business attire, speaking at a podium. In the top right-hand corner of the page was a smaller picture showing a monkey who looked a lot like Banzai being arrested by the police.

Banzai was speechless. Kleft simply scratched his head. "Well, this is...odd."

Smash looked over his shoulder, frowning nervously at the paper. "This is going to be a long day..."

In a swift motion, a slash of shadows knocked the APD out of Levi's hand and high into the air. Before anyone could react to catch it, a rather muscular pigeon grabbed it out of the air.

"H-Hey! What the heck!?" Splice exclaimed, looking at the pigeon flying over his head. "What are you doing!? That's ours!"

"Not anymore it's not," the pigeon answered, "Keep your eyes on the prize, or you're in for a surprise."

Wes teleported above the pigeon, and attempted to axe-kick it into the ground. "Give that back!"

Smash jumped up from under the pigeon, attempting to uppercut him at the same time as Wes' attack.

Splice coiled up his legs, waiting for the right moment to spring into action. Gideon aimed his riot gun (how the heck did he get that back?) at the pigeon.

The pidgeon was shielded from the attacks by two identical bats who seemingly appeared out of nowhere. A third appeared on the ground a few feet away from the group and called up, "Be more careful Skyrat!" The pidgeon, now dubbed Skyrat, then tossed the APD to the bat on the ground and flew from the heroes' reach.

Just as he tossed the APD, Splice leaped towards it to catch it in mid-air. But he missed.

Kyle flew towards the bat, still in his transformed state, and quickly caught up with it. He tried to bash the bat with the handle of his sword, hard enough to knock them unconscious.

The bat disappeared into a puff of shadow, and reappeared nearer to the APD to make the catch. "Oh, I'm the one who needs to be careful? Speak for yourself Victor," Skyrat said sarcastically.

The APD suddenly moved on its own, and hovered over back towards Levi. "You shouldn't mess with other people's stuff," he said, "escpecially if you don't know what said people can do."

The two readied themselves to fight the heroes, but a familiar voice from the distance stopped them. "Boys, boys! We've been in Station Square for a day, and you're already picking fights? Save your strength for the better picks." The voice belonged to none other than Burst, who was casually approaching the group. Oddly enough, he was wearing a leather jacket.

Inferna was surprised to see Burst here. She took a step toward him and was about to speak, but Tsunami shot a subtle glance at her. Tsunami's gaze told Inferna to keep quiet.

"And who might you be?" Levi asked, concious of the fact that this may be an evil alternate Burst.

"The name's Burst," he replied, "These are my work partners Skyrat and Victor."

"And what do you want with us?"

Burst chuckled a little and answered, "We want nothing. They were getting a little too cocky." He jumped slightly upon seeing Wes amongst the heroes and continued, "Correction: very cocky. Skyrat, Vic, outta here!" On his command, the two fled from the parc. Burst stopped moving forward, and even took a step back, making sure to keep his distance.

((V vanished a while ago))

((Oh, whoops. Wes, then))

((Just so everyone knows, the V (Velious) of this dimension is still pretty powerful, but he's a good guy.))

((Which is exactly why Burst is keeping his distance))

Wes realized that Burst starting backing away as soon as their eyes met. "You'd best be getting out of here," he said politely yet threateningly.

"Hey, it's cool, it's cool," he said casually, "I haven't doing anything against the law. No need to get tough." With that, Burst backed away slowly and ran off.

Instinctively, Inferna tried to run after him, but was stopped by Tsunami, who had thrust her arm in Inferna's way. "Don't," Tsunami said quietly, "That's not your Burst. It's a different one entirely."

"Looks like Mayor Velious' got quite a reputation," Wes said, chuckling. "I could use that to my advantage."

"Until V -- I mean Velious -- himself shows up. Speaking of which, does this mean they're now three Vs in this dimension?" Beat asked.

"oh lord." Smash said flatly at the thought of it.

((No one's frozen anymore since V's gone. Sorry, I should have mentioned that earlier))

"So what do we do now?" Banzai asked, throwing up his hands. "Where in some alternate dimension with three Vs and no friends who can help us!"

"We need to find some place we can settle down and plan. I don't think that staying in the middle of a park is very inconspicuous," Levi said, aware of the people slowly gathering around them. In this reality, everyone seemed to where either very bright or very dull clothing -- nothing between. The humans also looked slightly redder-skinned and had, although hard to notice, brighter hair. The anthropomorphic animals among them had slightly lighter fur/scales/skin than back home.

Cold:What the?

Smash shook his head. "I agree. The big airship behind us isn't helping, either."

Gizmo frowned. "Well, where do you want me to put this thing?" He asked. "I doubt they have parking lots for airships around here."

Kyle walked towards the group, reverting back to his normal form in the process. He returned his sword to it's sheath, and looked around at everyone. "I am not very familiar with Station Square in our dimension, so I apologize ahead of time for not being much help in finding a place to stay."

"Well, if Station Square is laid out the same way..." Smash said, stroking his chin. "Then I believe that the hotel should be...hmm...west from here." He looked over to the west, "We should be able to settle down there. And think about what to do next, as well."

"Still need a place to park my ship." Gizmo muttered.

Flame:Well how about over there?

"I may have a solution," Paroi said, extending his arms, hands glowing. "May I?"

Gizmo glanced at Paroi. "Um, if it has anything to do with shrinking my ship to a compact size, I think you'd better wait until everyone is out." He said.

"Do they even use the same currency in this world?" Beat asked skeptically.

"Do we have any money?" Banzai asked.

"I don't think it would be that different," Wes said, scratching his head, "plus, I'm sure they'll let their mayor and his friends stay for a little while and pay later."

Cold:Yeah.

Smash nodded. "I agree. Even if they do make us pay, I've got cash on me. I'm pretty sure since it's an alternate dimension, it isn't THAT different that they won't accept it."

((Plot-advancing time XD))

Ibara, Soshiro, Kasumi and V stood atop a tall building in 'Station Square', or whatever this new city was called. "My lord," Kasumi started, "may I ask what you were talking about earlier? It seemed as if you had just figured something out."

V smiled, a devilish grin that sent chills down Kasumi's spine. "Yes, that. Well, it's just that in all my attempts for finding that world, I had never included the possibility of alternate dimensions. Now that I'm here, I realize that I've been going about this all wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"You see, these alternate universes are layered one on top the other, like a pile of CDs. All this time I was scouring the surface of one CD, neglecting the others. Now, all I have to do to find that world is go to the bottom of the pile."

"May I ask why?"

V laughed. "I'll save that for later. Right now, I need to pay the mayor a little visit." He then looked down at the newspaper in his hands. "I wonder if he'll be surprised to see me?"

"Wait a second," Ibara suddenly interjected, "how do we get out of here? The girl's unconcious and with the others. Plus, we don't have the D-Shredder in this universe, so we can't force her to use her powers."

"That's the next matter of business." V turned to the others, arms folded over his chest. "This universe undoubtedly has some incarnation of the chaos emeralds. I need you three to gather them. I may be able to induce a large enough Chaos Control to take us back to our universe."

"But, my lord," Soshiro gulped, then continued, "I mean no disrespect, but would you truly be able to do that on your own?"

"Not right now." V scratched his chin, "But by the time you return, I guarantee you I'll be at 'full strength'. Now off with you!"

The three didn't stick around to ask questions. The all teleported by their own means to some other location. Once they were gone, V started pondering. "That boy, Wes was it? I need to have a word with him."

Cold:Hmph.

"What?" asked Gideon, who was busy cleaning his riot gun.

Cold:Something doesn't make sense.

"Oh?"

Cold:This place.

Gideon couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Of course this place doesn't make sense."

"Cold, we're in an alternate dimension on a whole different level of existence. You expect things to make sense?" Smash retorted.

Cold:No not that,but it feels like we are being watched.

Skate:NaH!

((Nobody should we watching them atm, but okay))

"Then we'd better get moving," Wes said. "First thing's first: we need to find an inn or hotel." Then he looked to Ciel, who was still unconscious. "Or maybe a hospital would be better?"

"I know a few healing spells, so I could take care of her," Paroi said, lifting her in his arms, and then nodded his head to the left. "I can see an inn over there. Let's rest there for a while."

"Then let's go," said Gideon as he stood up.

Cold:Okay.



In another part of the city, the three Daleth were hopping from rooftop to rooftop, discussing plans.

"So, how do we go about finding this worlds emeralds?" Ibara asked. "We don't even know where to start."

"I say, we look for this world's counterparts of our enemies, and see if they know anything," Kasumi replied. Then he suddenly stopped, standing utop a tall skyscraper.

"Why'd you stop?" Soshiro asked.

"You two go on ahead. I'm going to locate some people who may be of use to us." He clasped his hands together, and a heavy mist suddenly formed around him, only to spread out and disappear in a matter of seconds.

"Okay then, but don't get left behind!" Ibara warned before hopping off to another building, Soshiro following her."

Down below on the city streets, not too far from the Daleth, -Burst and his two cohorts were discussing their recent encounter with the heroes. "How many times do I have to tell you guys, don't pick off the mayor and his peeps," -Burst explained to them. Victor nodded in shame while Skyrat responded, "I told you we didn't know it was Velios, boss. And besides, that handheld was like nothing I've ever seen before." -Burst paused for a moment to think, and then said, "We go after it again when they're alone. I'm not taking any chances with the mayor."

Meanwhile, a dark blue echidna with green eyes and a long, white jacket strolled down the road. He seemed to be rather tired, as he headed for the hotel.

"Okay, unless the layout's different, the hotel should be just down this road." Smash said, leading the group. "And I'm not sure, but you MAY be able to park that ship on the beach, Gizmo."

Gizmo nodded as he walked beside Smash. His airship was gently floating behind the group, as Kitty piloted it from the cockpit It seemed very strange how he casually flew it like everything was normal. Luckily the streets were wide enough for him to cruise without hitting anything.

Skate:Giz!

"I told you, Don't call me "Giz"!" The cat retorted, somewhat annoyed now.

Fortunately, the currency of this dimension was the same. After checking into the hotel, and finding a good spot on the beach for Gizmo's ship to stay, the heroes all gathered into one room and discussed their plans. All the people aboard Gizmo's ship, including several chao and four yellow hedgehogs, had come into the room to join them. It was quite crowded, now.

Banzai had just walked through the door. "Alright. Paroi's in one of the other rooms taking care of Ciel with some kind of healing magic-stuff."

"Now, we need to discuss what to do," Levi said.

"Indeed." Smash nodded, now leaning on the wall next to the door. He opened his mouth to say something, but Banzai spoke before him.

"Hey guys: Look outside! The sun sets in the east in this world. And the ocean is jade-green instead of blue. And..." he soon stopped himself after he realized how childish he was acting. "Sorry. Go on."

"As I was saying. When we were checking in here, something crossed my mind: We all now V - Velious or whatever his name is - is a power-hungry tyrant. And here, Velious is the mayor of the city, and nothing more. That means, not only that V himself was originally born on Mobius, but also that this universe's V is probably weaker than ours, relatively."

"So..." Banzai said, not following.

"Well, if I arrived in an alternate version of my own dimension, the first thing I'd want to know is what my counterpart is like."

Smash's eyebrows shot up. "Hmm...Well, Normally I wouldn't want to meddle in the affairs of a different dimension..Especially not on a whole other level of the universe. But under the current circumstances...." He closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then glanced over at Levi. "So, you want to go and seek out our alternate selves for assistance?"

"Sounds kinda risky, considering what happened with Burst." Splice said, sitting on a chair in the corner.

"Burst was that person leading those guys who tried to mug you, right?" Cutter asked. "In that case, who knows what our counterparts would be like?"

"It does sound risky, but what else can we do?" Kleft interjected. "We don't know the first thing about this world, and I bet V's probably lookin' for his alternate self right now. Since he's the mayor, he's probably got access to loads of information."

"I say some of us go seek out mayor V before our V does," Banzai suggested. "Since our V's so nasty, this one may actually be a nice guy."

"And the rest of us can seek out our alternate selves and find out everything you can about this new world," Beat said. "Does that sound good to everyone?"

Gideon and Panzyr both nodded.

Tendril and Inferna nodded as well. Tsunami, who had followed the heroes for who knows what reason, simply stood there and listened to the others' plans.

"I think that's the best choice of action." Smash said while nodding with the others.

"All right then. While Ciel's getting fixed up, that's what we'll do. Every second we waste here V's advancing his plans, so let's move out!"

"Got it!"

"I never thought I'd be in a library again," Soshiro said, lazily flipping through the pages of a book.

"I don't like it either, but we need some info on this place," Ibara replied, sucked into her own book.

"I doubt we'll find anything," Soshiro said, getting up and placing his book back on the shelf. "I mean, they're like, what, thousands of books in here? What makes you think that---"

"Look at this!" Ibara exclaimed, causing Soshiro to jump back, knocking several books of the shelf and recieve a stern look from the reptilian librarian.

"What is it?"

"I've found something about this world's emeralds.......or emerald in this case."

"Well, read it!"

"It says: 'The Harmonia Gemstone floats high in the sky in the center of the Sea of Pandemonium, directly above Demon's Isle, the sunken island.' -- right there you can tell that's obviously the Chaos Emeralds and Angel Island -- 'It balances all the chaos and harmony in the world, and sustains the life force of all living things'. It also says that it's protected by an inpenetrable forcefield of pure life energy. And it's also twice the size of the Master Emerald."

"That sounds interesting," Soshiro said, "We should go get Kasumi."

"All ready here," said Kasumi, suddenly materializing behind Soshiro. "Let's go."

Elsewhere in the library, an aligator was listening in on their conversation while reading a very thick book. Chaos Emeralds and Angel Island, he though, Hmm... this could prove to be interesting. He stood up and approched them, remain very inconspicuous as if he wanted nothing to do with them.

Smash, Pearl, Violet and Crystal walked out the hotel room, and headed down the hallways. "So, uh, Where do we start looking for our alternate selves?" Violet asked.

"Well, just think; Where would you usually hang out?" Smash asked. Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "We'll just head on to Green Flower City and check out our alternate houses and regular hangout spots."

"Sounds good to me." Pearl said. "Still...What if they don't help us?"

Smash's eyelids lowered. "If my counterpart has a smidget of my sense in him, he will."

Meanwhile, Splice, Gizmo, Kitty, Amber, Kyle and Keela headed out the room as well. They were on their way to find the mayor. "So, anyone know where the mayor's office is?" Gizmo asked.

"I don't know my way around this city.." Amber said.

"Nor I." Kyle stated. "I would only pass through when we were in our world. And even then, I rarely came by here."

"I think I might know." Splice said, rubbing his chin. "Not a hundred percent sure, but I think I've seen it before."

"Great. Then lead the way." Keela said.

Tendril, not having stayed in this particular city for very long either, followed Splice, glad to hear that at least one person knew where they were going. Tsunami had tagged along as well, but her silence made it easy to forget she was there. Banzai had also come along for the trip, since he had nothing else to do. Tsunami's indifferent attitude was getting to him though. "Do you ever lighten up?" he asked her.

Kleft had also come along to watch over the others. "Can any of you fly? I think if we had a bird's eye view of the city we could just look for the tallest building."

The group exchanged glances, knowing that neither of them could really fly--until Kitty rose his hand. "Oh! Oh! Chao chao!" He exclaimed. "Kind of," Tendril said as wings of shadow sprouted form his back.

"Well then, could both of you just fly up and see if you can find any important-looking buildings."

Kitty nodded, and the moment they walked outside he flew up into the air. He put his hand over his eyes, searching around for what might be the tallest building in Station Square.

Tendril flew up beside the chao and looked around, carefully scanning the horizon.

Walking up the steps leading up to a large, cylindrical white tower was V, on his way to see the mayor. At the top of the stairs stood two security guards, dressed in dark blue spandex suits and wore a dark blue helmet with a black visor that covered their faces. They both carried large, black guns, which the pointed at V. "Halt!" one of them said, "No civillians are allowed inside."

"It would be in your best interests to avoid getting in my way," V said calmly.

"Who do you think you are?" the soldier replied, "Turn around and get lost." Suddenly, his large weapon turned to metallic dust. "What the--" Pieces of his suit crumbled away, limbs and all, and then he suddenly disintegrated into a pile of grey dust. The other soldier had dropped his gun and simply stood there in shock.

V lowered his hand and turned to the other guard. "That's you if you don't tell Velious that I want to speak with him."

"Mew!" Kitty pointed off into the distance. He had spotted the large, white tower pretty far from their position. He glanced at Tendril, still pointing at the building.

Tendril looked over, following the chao's gaze. "Oh yeah, that looks important," he agreed.

Kitty dove down towards the rest of the group to tell them about the tower.

"Is it heavily guarded?" Kleft asked, "I don't wanna have to fight our way inside."

"I wouldn't mind a good fight," said Gideon, hefting his riot gun over his shoulder.

Kitty shrugged. "Cha-mew. Chao mreow mew chao"

"He says that he couldn't get a good enough look. It's pretty far from here." Gizmo translated for them.

"Then let's go closer," Wes said, suddenly materializing behind the group. "Decided to follow you guys. Velious might be more convinced if he hears this from himself."

Tendril turned in the direction of the tower. "I can find out how heavily guarded it is," he said as his eyes began to change color. The whites changed to black, the pupils to white, and the red irises to green.

"What do you see?" Wes asked.

"I only see one guard at the door," Tendril replied, "But from his position, I'd be willing to guess there's supposed to be two. I also see what seems to be a pile of dust where the second guard would normally be positioned." Tsunami's eyes changed as well, the whites becoming cyan and the pupils dark blue. She nodded, confirming Tendril's suspicions. "We'll need to move very fast if we want to get there in time," she said, "And even then we'll most likely be too late."

"That doesn't sound good," Kleft said. "Those of you who can teleport, fly or whatever. Take someone who can't and head for the tower." He then dashed off in the dircetion of the tower at immense speed.

"I can teleport over there, but I can only take two people," Wes said.

"Then we will take that offer." Kyle said as he and his sister walked towards him.

"And I have room for one more," Banzai said, riding his large staff like a skateboard, which hovered above the ground and exhaled white smoke, making it look much like a cloud.

Tsunami abruptly vanished. "I'm afraid I can't carry passengers with my Shadow Travel," Tendril apologized. He then sank into the shadows and disappeared as well.

Amber glanced at Banzai. "I'll come with you, then."

"Alright, let's get going!" Splice exclaimed. "We gotta hurry!" He dashed off after Kleft, doing his best to keep up.

{C}Meanwhile, Smash's group just came out of the elevator in the hotel. They began to head towards the door, discussing the current situation, when something caught Smash's eye. Across the room, a dark blue echidna was checking in at the front desk. He stopped while everyone else passed by him, staring at the person. That man... He thought.

"Smash?" Violet turned around, noticing that he wasn't following. The other two turned around as well. "What's the matter?"

Smash was silent. He didn't want to speak up immediately while the person was only a few feet away from them. He walked towards his friends slowly, keeping his eyes on the echidna. Soon, the echidna finished his business and began to head towards the elevator. He noticed Smash, and gave a friendly nod. "Excuse me, sir." Smash said. "Could I..have a word with you?"

The echidna looked somewhat confused, but soon took note of the tone in his voice. Whatever it was he wanted, it was kind of serious. "Sure thing." He said. The two walked to another part of the room, near the door leading to the pool and the beach. "What seems to be the problem?"

Smash frowned, folding his arms. "I'm not really sure how to put this, but.." He paused, thinking of the right words to say. "Your name..wouldn't happen to be David, would it? David Corliss?"

His eyes widened in surprise. "Actually, yes..it is." He answered.

"I thought so..." He unfolded his arms. "This might be a little hard to wrap your mind around."

"Who are you?" David asked, looking somewhat disturbed. "Why do you look so..familiar?"

"Like I said, it's gonna be difficult to understand." Smash said. "My name is Smash The Echidna...or rather, Smash Derrick Corliss."

David took a step back in shock. "What...?"

"I'm from an alternate dimension, pretty hard to reach from here. My world has been thrown into complete chaos. And through a freak accident, I and several other people from my world have been stranded here. There is one person who could help us get back, but that's not the issue here. The main issue is that because of that freak accident, the person responsible for nearly conquering my world came with us. The worst part? He's pretty much the evil counterpart of Mayor Velious. This world is in danger because of his presence now."

David stood there staring, his eyes were nearly bulging out of his head.

"Sorry. I knew it'd be a bit much." Smash said, looking away.

"No, it's fine." David said, calming down. "I've had to deal with many problems like this over the years...but none this bad." He said. "I'll be glad to help you in anyway I can." He had a distant look in his eyes, as he suddenly began to think back to the past.

"Thank you. I'm glad you could help, but I'm sorry this was so sudden." He said. "When I saw you, I knew that I had to talk to you. I knew that if there was anyone I could count on, it would be the alternate counterpart of my own father."

"So, instead of seven separate emeralds, this universe only has one, massive gemstone?" Soshiro asked as the Daleth walked out of the library.

"Yes," Kasumi answered irritably, "and instead of Angel Island there's Demon's Isle."

'Which is located somewhere over the Sea of Pandemonium," Ibara clarified. The three were now walking down the streets of the city, discussing their plans. "So, do you guys have any idea where any of those things are?"

"Perhaps I can be of assistance?" called out a voice from behind. A few feet away stood the alligator who had been listening in on their conversation back at the library.

"And you are?" Kasumi asked without turning around.

The alligator smirked and answered, "Someone who knows far more about this world than the three of you do."

He's on to us, Kasumi thought quickly, and discreetly changed his arms to water, which were hidden by his long sleeves. "Name please?"

"I go by Leatherhead," he replied, "I assure, violence is neither necessary nor wise at this time. As I said, I believe I can be of some assistance."

"Why would you want to help us? You don't know our intentions, nor who we truly are. What would you gain from it?"

Leatherhead chuckled and answered, "Oh, I know more about you and your intentions than you think, simply via observation." He approached them and continued, "I know your names are Kasumi, Ibara, and Soshiro. You are from an alternate universe and serve a counterpart of our own mayor Velios. You are searching for the Harmonia Gemstone, counterpart to your Chaos Emeralds. Anything I missed?"

Kasumi was taken aback. In an instant, all the air in the street froze into a hard,solid chunk of ice, trapping several cars and passers-by. Kasumi, Ibara and Soshiro were exempted, and only Leatherhead's face was free from ice. "Would you like to tell me how you know this?"

"You three aren't very secretive," he replied, "Next time you're in a library, take note of the signs and 'be quiet'." Which a jerk of his arm, he shattered a large portion of the ice around in, not leaning on what was left. "Now, are you interested or not?"

Kasumi shot an irritated glance toward Soshiro and Ibara, who lowered their heads in shame. As suddenly as it appeared, all the ice vanished, and people continued with their live as if nothing had happened. "You still didn't answer my question. "Why would you want to help us?"

"Because I believe we can mutually gain from it," Leatherhead answered. His expression suggested he had a plan, and from his previously shown confidence, it was likely that he did.

"Get to the point," Kasumi said. He was already annoyed by the day's turn of events and his partners, and this stranger was dancing on his last nerve. "What do you want?"

"I wish to take nothing away from your quest," he reassured, "I simply want to collect some spoils for myself and my colleagues."

"Define 'spoils', because I don't think you want any of what we want to get," Kasumi replied. "Look, all we need is information, namely the location of the Sea of Pandemonium. Can you tell us where that is? Or do we have to beat it out of you."

"Of course I can tell you," Leatherhead answered, "All I ask in return is that you let my collegues and I accompany you, and take what we please along the way... aside from the Harmonia Gemstone, of course."

After some thought, Kasumi finally agreed. "Fine. You can come along, but who exactly are your collegues?"

"You will meet them when we depart," he explaind, "I must warn you though, you will most likely have to put up with attitude and incompetance from most of them."

"I all ready have to deal with them," Kasumi said, nodding towards his allies.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

In his office, mayor Velious was shocked to hear his secretary report that there was a man looking exactly like him requesting an audience. "Let him in," he replied. He didn't have any twins, and was certain there were no clones of him around. If so, then who could this man be? As if to answer his question, a perfect relfection of himself suddenly appeared in front of his desk, draped in a white jacket, grey shirt and long grey pants.

"Hello Velious," V said.

"Who are you?"

"I am you. From another universe at least."

The heroes arrived at the bottom of the long staircase leading to the tower. Wes appeared holding onto Kyle and Keela, as Banzai descended to the ground, Amber with him. Kleft arrived soon after. "Come on! We've got no time to loose!" He said as he made an impossibly strong leap to the top of the large staircase. He turned to the others, urged them to come on, and ran inside.

(Ryu-Aww crap, I feel left behind :I)

((Nothing really happened. They just arrived at the mayor's place.))

((Ryu-Ah, okay))

Amber pointed up at him, "Fly up there!" She said to Banzai.

Kyle wasn't sure how he could get up there so fast. Neither he nor Keela could fly. He looked at Wes. "We're counting on you."

Splice never stopped running when he arrived. He sped towards the building at full throttle, and ended up running up the wall. Flames surrounded his body as he rocketed upward. Gizmo soon followed after him on his Jet board, with Kitty hanging on for dear life.

Panzyr was hovering in mid-air using his wings, already out of his Fallen form and back in normal form.

Wes and Banzai helped the others up the stairs through teleportation and flight, respectively. Now the only thing preventing them access were two incredibly large, ornate double doors. "Do we blow it it up?" Banzai asked.

Gideon used his Wings of Dark Flight to propel himself up to the others. "Who has doors that large?" he said aloud, looking up in awe at the ornate structure.

"I say we knock them down," said Panzyr.

"Tsunami and I can get in without any damage to the mayor's property," Tendril said, "Shall we go in and see what's going on?"

Kyle nodded. "At the very least, yes." He said. "If you could let us in from the other side, it would be much appreciated."

"They're already in there, I know it." Splice said, feeling distressed. "What do we do when we get in there? I mean, this is V we're talking about. "

"We'll have to wing it, I guess," Tendril replied, "Probably not the best course of action, but it's the only one we've got." He sank into the shadows and slipped under the door while Tsunami simply vanished.

"That's very interesting," Velious said, leaning forward in his chair to listen to V's explanation.

"So you see, I'd very much appreciate your assistance on the matter," said V, lounging in one of the comfortable chairs in the office. "As for the rebels, well, I imagine they're here by now. I would suggest removing them from the premises."

"Not so fast," Velious said, standing up. "I know you're me, but I want to hear both sides of the story before I come to any decisions. I take pride in being as unbiased as possible."

V smiled dropped ever so slightly. "I suppose so."

Suddenly, the double doors swung inwards, allowing the heroes access to the enourmous building. It's main foyer looked like a highly decorated palace, with expensive carpets, marple floors and pillars, and several portraits lined the room at regular intervals. In the center of the room was a highly decorated fountain, with mainy carvings of famous heroes and leaders of this universe carved into it. Behind the fountain was a wide, carpeted staircase leading to the upper levels of the tower.

"Wow," Banzai said, amazed by the building's impressive design. He slowly stepped inside, followed by Beat and Kleft, carefully looking for any traps or defenses.

Tsunami reappeared and Tendril rose out of the shadows. "Well....so much for that idea, I guess," Tendril muttered.

"Maybe next time," Kleft said, patting Tendril on the back

"This place is actually very nice..." Amber commented, walking behind the heroes.

"Well, all I can say is, at least there aren't any green lines all over the place." Splice said.

"Greetings," said a calm, deep voice. A man who looked exactly like V calmly and slowly descended the stairs, holding on to the railing.

"Oh Shoot, It's him...!" Splice whispered quietly. His whole body tensed up at the sight of him, but something was different.

Kyle gave him a good, hard look before bowing his head. "Good afternoon. Mayor Velious of Station Square, I presume?"

Both Panzyr and Gideon simply stood there, watching Kyle converse with this dimension's V.

"Yes, I am. And you must be: Beat, Banzai, Kleft, Kyle, Splice, Keela, Gizmo, Tsunami, Tendril, Gideon and Panzyr." He pointed to each of the heroes in turn as he said their names. "What brings all of you here?"

"Whoa...He knew all of our names, respectively." Splice said quietly.

"Except mine." Amber noted.

"My apologies. I did not see you there," he replied.

"Let me apologize ahead of time for troubling you so." Kyle said, bowing with his hand to his chest. "We have come here seeking your help." He stood straight and looked at the mayor with sincerity. "We have been stranded in this world. We are from an alternate world on an entirely different plane of existence. We may have one person who could help us already, but she has already exhausted all of her power, and I'm afraid that she might strain herself too much if she tried to return us home." He shook his head. "But that is only one problem. The second problem, explains how we were stranded."

Splice stepped forward to carry on where he left off. "Our world, and several other dimensions near ours, were conquered by an evil man. He drove us out of our dimension, and we were away from home for quite some time. We ended up trying to help out in the worlds we went to, since they were also at war with the same man, trying to keep him and his army out. We soon made it back home, and found that his people were preparing some sort of satellite that would pretty much make our world under his control. We fought them, and nearly won, until the boss himself showed up. He was too powerful for us, and he kidnapped the girl Kyle mentioned who could help us travel through dimensions. We ended up having to run away to another dimension, that fortunately one of our comrades had free access to. We regrouped, and went back home, only to find the whole world in complete chaos. He had taken over everything in only a day or two." He paused, and let out a sigh. He didn't want to think about how badly Green Flower City had been wrecked. "We tried to gather up as many people as possible, and fight them off at one of their main bases in a desert. It was a really long battle, but near the end, we saw our kidnapped friend return in a dimensional portal, along with someone whom we thought had betrayed us, and the man we opposed. We ended up having a rematch against him, but he was still too strong for us. Then all of a sudden, I haven't the faintest clue why, by the way, she ended up involuntarily using all of her power to create a huge dimensional vortex that sucked us all in. Even then, we still continued fighting. Then, the battle ended when we arrived here. The boss and his minions ditched us right about then, and I thought he had actually left this whole dimension and went back home, but no...I think he's still here."

"In fact, I think he's here in this building, right now." Gizmo said

"You are correct Gizmo, and he has told me a very different version of the story," Velious said.

'Which one do you think is true?" V said, walking down the stairs and standing next to his twin.

"I'm not sure," Velious admitted.

"Oh come now. Do you really think I would try to deceive myself?"

"Not, but you did murder one of my guards and demand an appointment with me."

"All actions from a desperate man. I mean you no harm, I promise."

Panzyr snarled at V as he appeared, his ears drawn back and the fur on his neck and shoulders flared out.

"What did he tell you?" Keela asked, giving them both a serious look.

"What exactly did he tell you?" Beat asked, curious.

"He told me almost the exact same story you did, only you seemed like the villains."

Kleft exclaimed,"Baloney! Garbage! Absolute Bullsh-"

"However, I have come to a conclusion," Velious said, just as he spun around, and dealt V a powerful roundhouse to the back. V, being completely unprepared for the attack, flew forwards and crashed into a few marble pillars.

"He's on our side!" Banzai said, jumping for joy.

An emerald green explosion erupted from the shattered marble, turning it to dust. "How dare you. How dare you turn against me!"

"You seem a lot less humble now," Velious said, and smiled. "I am not one to boast, but I am a good, honest man. I recognize the faces of some of these fine warriors, and many of them aren't too nice. However, I can tell that these people are good people, and it would make sense that you are my opposite, in a sense, meaning that you can't be too good."

"That sounds about right." Gizmo said. "We met one of our comrade's counterparts, and he was totally different than from our world's."

Splice felt his heart skip. He was so relieved, after thinking that he might just side against them.

"Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, you have our gratitude." Kyle said, once again bowing with his hand to his chest.

"Now that leaves one question; Where are your lackeys?" Gizmo asked. "I thought they'd be here with you."

V had calmed down a bit, but still looked extrememly irritated. "Although I must admit that I had not been expecting a betrayal from myself, it still does not affect my plans."

"Enough with the big talk. From the moment we first made contact, I could feel that you were a weaker version of yourself. As we spoke, I could feel you slowly and discreetly stealing some of my life force to replenish yours. You planned to use me as aliving battery, and your plan failed, and you will keep getting weaker.

V was full of uncontainable rage. He had hoped to keep that information a secret, even from his followers, and Velious had spilled the beans to his enemies. And he scolded him like a child! "You will pay for that. I won't only take over this universe. Once my plans come to fruitition, I will erase it from existence, and I will make sure you live through every agonizing second of it." With those words hanging in the air, V vaished in a flash of green.

"...Holy crap, is that even possible?" Splice asked, rather disturbed by the thought.

Cold:Well ain't that a bunch of bull.

"I'm doubtful of that," Velious said, then invited the other warroiors to come upstairs. He ascended the stairs, and vanished at the top.

Splice and Gizmo exchanged glances with the rest of the group, and then followed Velious up the stairs. Soon, everyone else came in after him.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Smash's group just arrived at the alternate Green Flower City. They walked down the street, chatting along the way. Now that they had a companion from this universe, there was so much to talk about. Especially since that person happened to be Smash's alternate father.

"I see...So pretty much everything that's happened in our world, happened somewhat differently here." Smash said, stroking his chin. "That's interesting..."

"Indeed. And you say that I've passed away in your world, right?" David asked.

"Yeah. You and our mother both died about 7 years ago." Smash answered.

"Interesting, since in this world, you and Pearl passed away around that same time." David said. This surprised everyone else.

"That actually makes some sense." Pearl said. "The roles have been reversed. Which is very interesting, since that seems to have happened instead of an alternate personality, like we've seen with our other friends..."

Smash nodded. "Indeed. And heck, I'd take that anyday." He then noticed that they were getting close to a familiar house. "Hey, That's Splice's house."

"Who?" David asked.

"Splice is a good friend of ours! Hopefully his counterpart isn't too different from him!" Violet exclaimed. She and Smash rushed ahead to the house.

"Wait..that can't be right..." David muttered. "That's..." He shook his head, and followed the group. Smash rung the doorbell as soon as he reached it.

A few minutes passed, and then the door opened to reveal a red hedgehog with yellow flame marks on his quills. "Can I help you?" He asked.

"Yeah, uh, Does a guy named Splice live here?" Violet asked.

The hedgehog shook his head. "Nope. Never heard of him."

Violet's smile vanished. "Never...heard of him...?" She repeated, quietly.

"Okay thanks, bye." Smash spoke up for them, and walked away quickly. The hedgehog closed the door as they left.

"That was Burn, an old friend of mine." David said, walking towards the group. "I don't know who this "Splice" is, but Burn and his wife live there now."

"Maybe he lives somewhere else..?" Crystal suggested.

Smash lowered his head, letting his hair fall in front of his face. "Judging by what his life was like...I highly doubt it." He said, while his eyes were hidden behind his hair. "Let's go."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Velious's led the heroes to a large balcony built into the face of the tower. He was standing at its edge, hand firmly grasped on the banister. "Gather round, all of you. There are, some things I must tell you."

Splice walked to the banister near him. "I'm listening..."

Kyle and Keela stood by his other side, while Amber, Gizmo and Kitty stood somewhere behind him.

Gideon and Panzyr hung back near the doorway.

"We all know that Velious - V as you know him - has powerful psychonetic abilities. So do I. But while his are more physical i.e. telekinesis, mine are more fine tuned to affect others's minds. You see, while I was speaking with myself, I was able to see into his mind, and get a glimpse of what he's really planning."

"What is it that he plans to do?" Keela asked.

"He mentioned erasing everything from existence..." Gizmo stated.

"I don't know about that. I didn't manage to get that deep. But I do know that his ultimate goal is to find...the original world."

"The..original?" Splice asked. "I don't think I understand..."

"There are different dimensions, all of which exist in various different universes. Some people believe the mutiverse to be like a massive spiderweb of worlds. If so, then everything in existance myst have a center. He plans to find that center. I fear that if he does, he'll have complete control over....everything."

"Yikes..." Gizmo said, quietly.

"I can't even imagine..." Amber whimpered.

"We will not let that happen." Kyle spoke up. "We will stop him before he finds it."

"That's not all. Then there's the matter of Wes. He plays a much larger role in this than it appears."

Splice's eyebrows rose. "Wes?" He looked behind him. "Now that I think about it, he hasn't said a word since we got here..."

Velious chuckled. "I bet you're wondering why he resembles me and my counterpart so much, and why V weakens every time he interacts with him."

"I can guess." Gizmo said. "Wes is actually a part of V, in some shape or form. Something must have happened to V that separated Wes from him..or something. Either way, I think that's why Wes is able to stand up to him."

"You are correct. Wes is actually V's other half, born from an accident that made both of them the people they are now. In the accident, V took most of his powers with him, but lost the part of him that made him...how do I say this...a person. That part of him became Wes. Everytime they get close to eachother, Wes unknowingly absorbs some of V's power, in order to reform as one." He suddenly turned around, his look suddenly stern and serious. "The way I see it, if they do reform, one of two things can happen: Wes's mind can overpower V's, and he'll essentially become a god, or V will take control and destroy everything we hold dear. We cannot take that chance. We MUST prevent them from interacting at all costs, as well as finding and stopping V!"

"And we will do just that." Kyle said, confidently.

"So, did the same accident ever happen to you?" Gizmo asked, curiously. "I mean, if you and V are pretty much on the same level, but he was split in half, wouldn't that mean you did too?"

Velious smiled. "Yes, a similar accident happened to me. I was once a researcher, trying to solve the mysteries of life energy - my equivalent to chaos energy - when I came accross a strange, angel like being one day. It appeared to be injured, so I took it back to my lab, and nursed it to health. I learnt that it was something called a herald, and in return, it gave me a sample of its divine energy. In a fateful experiment, I crossed the two energies together, life and divine. The experiment was successful, but the sample was unstable. It exploded, destroying my lab and nearly me, but instead, the new energy fused with me. Instead of destroying my moral self, it enhanced it, and granted me powerful telepathic abilities, as well as increased strength and agility. I imagine the opposite happened to V, making him what he is."

"Wow..." Gizmo said, sounding surprised. "In that case, I'd better be extra careful with what I do in my basement!" Kitty nodded in agreement.

"So, it didn't split you apart, then?" Splice asked.

"Nope. I'm one whole being. One whole being who's main goal in life is to create a world of peace and serenity. A dream that's impossible while V is around." He put his hand to his head, then lowered it. "My sources indicate that V is on the move. He plans to capture this world's largest source of energy: the Harmonia Gemstone."

"Harmonia Gemstone," Banzai repeated, and a smile formed on his face. "What's the opposite of that guys?"

"Chaos Emerald," Beat replied. "We have to stop him."

"Right! So where is it?" Splice asked."

"I would assume it would be on Angel Island...or rather, it's counterpart." Kyle said. "After all, in our world, that is the resting place of the Master Emerald."

"High above Demon's Isle, in the middle of the Sea of Pandemonium. It should be in the same place as this Angel Island."

"Well, Looks like I won't be wasting fuel and space, then!" Gizmo said, grinning. "It should be a breeze with my airship!"

"We should gather everyone up." Kyle reminded them. "Some of our comrades left seeking help."

"Leave them to me. I know just where most of them might be." Splice said. "And we'll meet back at the hotel, right?"

"Yep," Kleft said, "although we should hurry. Sounds like time's of the essence."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Levi had wandered off on his own to gather some information. He was about to turn a corner onto another street, when he saw V suddenly materialize in front of him, some distance away. Levi jumped back, cautious of the fact that V may be here to kill him, but he soon realized that he hadn't noticed him yet. He disappeared around the corner and into an alley, and pulled out his APD. "Kleft, I've located V. Sending you the coordinates...now. How's everything up on your end?"

"Going well so far. The mayor's on our side, and he told us about V's plan. We need to meet up and head out to find some Harmionia Gemstone, say, at the hotel in a few minutes?"

"Sounds good to me," Levi replied, then turned his head around the corner to see if V was still there. He was walking casually down the street, nobody giving him a second glance. With a huge sigh, Levi headed back to the hotel.

Suddenly, he heard an odd noise, like clawed paws scraping across the concrete.

Levi quickly moved his hand to his gun at his side, his other hand glowing faintly. Did he spot me? he wondered. He didn't dare move; he was going to wait till this thing showed itself before reacting.

The sound was getting closer, approaching the corner from the side perpendicular to Levi's. Whatever was stalking him was making no effort to stay quiet; a low, rumbling growl peaked with every exhale.

Levi just stood there, waiting.

At last, a black-furred snout poked around the corner, snorting and snarling, its fangs bared, trying to get Levi's scent.

The instant he saw the snout, Levi jumped a good distance away from the creature, simultaneously firing several energy bolts from his gun. Then, using his technokinesis, he checked to see whether this beast had any form of technology on him.

One of the bolts seared the unknown being's snout, making its owner rear back and out of sight with a roar of pain and fury. And then, it jumped out around the corner on all fours. It looked almost exactly like Panzyr, but his markings were a darker shade of red, and his fur was so black that no light seemed to reflect from it. His eyes were red and yellow orbs of pure, feral insanity, and his teeth were gleaming white daggers dripping saliva. He roared again at Levi.

"You know, I think I like my version of you better," Levi said, extending his arm and making the 'come-on' gesture with his hand.

Snarling, the Inverse Panzyr leapt forward, his mouth open wide, aiming to take a bite out of Levi's taunting hand.

Levi pulled back his hand and jumped to the side to avoid Panzyr, standing just out of his reach. "Can you at least talk?" He asked the beast.

Now that Levi was closer, he could see faint scars covering Inverse Panzyr's body, hidden mostly by his fur. The beast looked confused at Levi's question.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you." Levi slowly stooped down, and placed his gun on the ground in front of him, and then kicked it to the side. "See? I'm not your enemy."

The Inverse Panzyr let out a startled snarl once Levi kicked the gun to the side, but soon calmed down. He continued to eye the other wearily, however.

Levi slowly and carefully walked towards Inverse Panzyr, making sure he could see that his hands were free. "Relax, I'm your friend, okay?"

The creature growled a bit and kept low to the ground, glaring up at Levi with suspicion.

Once Levi got close enough, he reached out his hand in an attempt to pet the Inverse Panzyr.

Inverse Panzyr snarled again, but did not attempt to bite.

Levi carefully pat his head. "There there. See? I'm not a bad guy." A kind smile appeared on his lips.

Suddenly, a hand appeared on Levi's shoulder. "You're not, but I am," a familiar voice said. Before he could react, Levi fell unconscious to the floor. V stood over him triumphantly, a devilish grin on his face. He then looked at Inverse Panzyr. "You'd best get out of here, beast. This is no place for you."

Inverse Panzyr flattened his ears against his head and growled, snorting out what appeared to be black-red-purple smoke.

V casually flicked his hand forward, sending a powerful, invisible blast of telekinetic energy at Inverse Panzyr.

He was sent flying backwards with a pained roar, rolling across the pavement a good distance once he hit the ground.

V chuckled, then vanished in a flash of emerald light.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Paroi stepped out of the hotel room containing Ciel, now fully healed and resting. He leaned against the wall of the floor's hallway, slid down and sat on the ground, exhaling a huge breath. The entire healing process had exhausted much of his magic reserves. "I...I should go get the others," he said, closing his eyes and focusing his magic. Using the little power he had left, he separated his consciousness from his body. It spread out over the cityscape, trying to locate his comrades. He spotted them, standing together on the balcony of a tall tower, speaking with someone who looked a lot like V. So that's Velious, he thought, he seems like a good man. "I wonder if I have enough strength to do something so....long ranged. Well, it's worth a try." With a bright yet brief flash of light, he vanished...

And reappeared on the balcony with the other heroes. Velious immediately noticed his sudden arrival, and rushed to his side as he collapsed from exhaustion. "Are you all right?" he asked.

".....I'm fine," Paroi replied, then turned to look at the others. "What's the plan?" he asked the heroes.

After seeing he was okay, Gizmo stepped towards him to answer his question. "We believe that V and his henchmen are after the Harmonia Gemstone at Demon's Isle, the equivalent of Angel Island and the Master Emerald, or chaos emeralds, or both." He said. "We have to get there before they do. Splice already left to go get Smash and the guys with him. I'm not sure who else went out, but they need to head back to the hotel, as do we."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Smash's group walked further down the street, heading to the western area of the city. He saw a large house in the distance, the one he recognized to be his. He pointed towards it and glanced at David. "Do you live down there?" He asked, curiously.

"Me? Oh no. We still live back in Green Flower Zone." He responded. "Got no reason to move into such a big house in the city."

"I see.." Smash stroked his chin.

At that moment, something caught Crystal's attention at the corner of her eye. A silver colored fox with long hair walking down the street, who reminded her so much of herself. Except for the fact that she was sensing a murderous vibe from the girl. It didn't help that she was traveling with a dark gray devil chao. Is that...is that me...? She wondered, nervously. She hurried forward, trying to hide herself behind Smash and Pearl while hugging Krysi firmly.

"Smash! Guys, over here!" A voice called out to them. They turned around, and saw Splice tearing down the road towards them. He skidded to a stop right next to them, "We gotta go; V's after the Harmonia Gemstone!"

"Whoa whoa, slow down there." Smash said. "First off, What is that?"

"I'll explain along the way. We're supposed to meet back at the hotel!"

David looked at Splice curiously. "Is this one of your companions you were with?" He asked. They simply nodded in response.

Splice looked up at David and nodded. "Oh hey. I'm Splice, nice to meetcha. What's your name?"

"David. David Corliss." He said, smiling a bit.

Splice's eyebrows rose. "David? Where have I heard that name before...?" He wondered aloud. His eyes then widened with shock. "Wait, You don't mean...?"

"Yeah." Smash nodded. "Say hello to my father...or at least, his alternate self."

"Wow...well THIS was unexpected." He said, scratching the back of his head.

"And you said your name was Splice, right?" David asked, before glancing at Smash. "Weren't you asking for him back at Burn's house?"

"Wait, what..?" Splice looked even more surprised.

Smash shook his head. "I was looking for his alternate self. But we didn't find him." He looked over at Splice. "We should hurry back. Let's talk about this at the hotel."

He nodded. "Right." He then lead the group back to Station Square.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

"Well then, now that that's all settled, let's get going," Kasumi said. The trio had just finished discussing things with the mysterious Leatherhead when V suddenly appeared between the two. "Is everything ready?" V asked Kasumi, blatantly ignoring Leatherhead's presence.

"Y-yes lord V," Kasumi replied.

Leatherhead looked up at V, a small smirk resting on his face. "So I am in the presence of the mighty V?" he said to himself, "A little smaller than I imagined."

V turned to face Leather head, then snarled, "I'm not in the mood you overgrown lizard."

Kasumi nervously stepped forward and said, "This is our guide. He'll be taking us to the biggest source of power in this world."

V looked directly into Leatherhead's eyes. "Is this true?" he asked.

"Indeed it is," Leatherhead replied with confidence in his tone, "I hold a vast knowledge of this world, which I'm sure would be of much use to you and your minions. With myself and my associates as your escorts, I can assure you that the Harmonia Gemstone will be yours."

V wasn't in the modd to argue, so he simply raised his hand, and bowed his head in exasperation. "Fine, you can come along. Just don't get in my way, or you'll know what it feels like to be torn apart atom by atom."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Back in the hotel lobby, Kleft's group had already returned and were waiting for the others to arrive. Banazi was impatiently tapping his tail against the floor, while Beat was relaxing in a chair reading a catalogue about other vacation spots in this universe.

"What's keeping everyone?" Banzai asked

"Just wait," Kleft replied, "I'm sure they'll turn up soon."

Tendril was standing near the middle of the room, waiting patiently. Soon, the doors opened and Inferna walked in. She noticed Tendril and immediately ran up to him and threw her arms around him with a giddy smile. "Hi Tendril!" she called out happily, completely ignoring the other heroes. Tendril took a step back, surprised by the sudden embrace, though her grip held him in place.

At the time, Gizmo, Kitty, and all the chao that had populated the hotel room had all left to fire up his airship. Kyle was sitting on the floor, closing his eyes while waiting for everyone to be ready, while Keela and Amber were chatting near the window. Cutter leaned against the wall near the door, folding his arms impatiently. Silver sat down in the corner of the room, sharpening his spear. Thunder and his brothers had also gone out to help Gizmo with his airship.

Upon seeing Inferna enter so suddenly, and by herself, they were all rather puzzled. "Miss Inferna?" Kyle asked, opening his eyes. "You've returned alone...Where are the others?" He asked with concern.

Inferna glanced over at Kyle and tilted her head. "'Others'?" she repeated in confusion, "And how do you know my name?"

Kyle's eyes widened. "What...?"

Cutter, knowing that this had to have been this universe's Inferna, opened one eye to look at her. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

"Just looking for a place to stay the night, since neither me or my boyfriend have a real home," and with that, she abruptly leaned in and kissed Tendril, much to his surprise. He tried to take another step back, but her embrace kept him still.

Kyle bit his lip, knowing good and well that Tendril and Inferna from his world were most certainly not a couple. He rememebered how she reacted to seeing the alternate Burst with the gang of thugs.

"How did you know that he was here?" Cutter asked, sounding a tad suspicious and curious at the same time.

"I didn't," she replied, "I just walked in to see if this would be a good place to stay for a while. It was just a coincidence that I found my Tendril here too."

"I see..." He glanced at Tendril, wondering how he was feeling about this.

"Well this is certainly...strange..." Kyle muttered to himself.

Inferna, looking at the rest of the group now instead of Tendril, was the only one who couldn't see his expression, which showed that he was feeling more than a little awkward at this.

Cold:This is wrong.

Gideon and Panzyr looked at each other, both wearing the same expression of "What the f***ing f***???".

"Is someone planning on breaking the news to her?" Kleft asked, nudging in Inferna's direction. At that moment, Levi entered the lobby. "Is everyone ready to go?" He asked.

"Go?" Inferna repeated, "Where are we going?"

Levi was confused for a moment, but soon realized the situation. "Uh...well, you see..."

Slightly irritated with everyone's hesitance to explain, Tsunami sighed and spoke up. "We're not from around here. In fact, we're from an entirely different p-- uh, dimension." Inferna glanced over at Tsunami, noticing her for the first time. She immediately screamed and hid behind Tendril. "Please don't hurt me!" she pleaded.

"What's the matter?" Banzai said. "I know she can be a little..." Seeing Tsunami's impassive face mad him rethink his choice of words. "You know what I mean. Why are you so scared of her?"

A scary thought popped into Beat's head. Their Tsunami betrayed them and sided with V for a short period of time, only to betray V and return to their saide for unknown reasons. It seemed that she was only looking after herself, and didn't care for anyone else. Could this universe's Tsunami be worse?

In answer to Banzai's question, Inferna replied, "Don't you know who that is? It's Aquella Oceania. She's wanted all over the world, and in all of the Elemental Realms as a mass murderer and serial killer. They've nicknamed her 'The Fallen Princess'. They say the cops haven't even caught her once. She somehow manages to outrun their cars, then when she gets bored of racing them, she simply blows them up."

Kyle stood up, wanting to stop this before it got worse. "To repeat what she said, We are not from here." He said. "We are from a different dimension, and are currently stranded in this world. It may be hard to understand, but trust me when I say that she will not harm you, or anyone else here." He briefly glanced over at Tsunami before looking back at her. "You have nothing to fear."

"Of course this also means that your "boyfriend" here ain't actually your boyfriend." Cutter added. "He's from our world too. And while I'm at it, our world is like an alternate version of yours. We came here with an alternate version of you, too. And that's who we were expecting at the moment."

Inferna eyed Tsunami wearily. Tendril had finally found his voice and said, "Our Aquella isn't like yours. In fact, she used to be quite friendly." Inferna looked up at Tendril. Trusting him over a couple of guys she hasn't met, she nods and comes out from behind him. She was about to hug him again, when he stopped her, saying, "Also, in our world, you and I aren't dating. I think of your counterpart as a very close friend, almost a sister. So it's really awkward to have you hanging on me." Inverse Inferna took a step back. "Sorry," she apologized, "Force of habit."

Now that the conflict appeared to be solved, Banzai went back to staring out the window. He was growing impatient and wanted to get back in action as soon as possible. With a deep sigh, he looked down towards the street. And his eyes widened in horror. "G-guys?" He said.

"What is it?" Beat asked moving towards him. "Look down," Banzai said. Beat obeyed, and saw what had frightened the teenage monkey. "Everyone! we need to get out --" he was cut off mid sentence by what seemed to be a sudden and powerful earthquake.

Gideon managed to stumble over to the window, bracing himself against the wall.

Cutter immediately jumped away from the wall, while Silver stood up and rushed over to the group. Keela and Amber noticed the same thing Banzai and Beat did.

"What is it?? What did you see??"

"V's mark," Banzai said, "It's all over the city!" Outside the window, one could see that there was a glowing creen circuit design covering this area of the city, although no one else seemed to notice them. However, people outside did notice that the hotel was inexplicably shaking, and were staring with wonder.

Inverse Inferna instinctively latched onto Tendril, who was too busy trying to find a foothold to shake her off.

"Somebody get Ciel!" Kleft shouted.

"Leave it to me!" Wes said, before teleporting in a brief flash of purple light.

Keela grabbed Amber's arm and rushed towards the exit, with Kyle following closely behind. Silver stayed and tried to make sure everyong got out safely.

"The rest of us need to get out of here!" Levi shouted over the sound of the crumbling building. "Gizmo, where's you're airship?"

((Bah, haven't been keeping up lately. >.<; But Gizmo wasn't inside, unless he was talking to him via com-link. ~Smash The Echidna~ http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100421224452/sonicfanon/images/0/04/Smash_life.png 16:54, October 19, 2011 (UTC)))

((Sorry, I'd assumed he was. Just assume it was through com-linkPossibilities are Endless - Banzai123 21:18, October 19, 2011 (UTC)))

Almost as if in response to his question, everyone who had a wrist communicator heard Gizmo calling out to them. "Guys, you gotta get out of there now! It looks like the whole building is coming down!" He exclaimed. "Hurry to the beach by the side of the hotel! It's right past the pool area!"

Meanwhile, Smash's group just arrived in front of the hotel, only to stop in horror when they saw what the mark was causing. The hotel was shaking violently, and pieces of debree were falling from it. "Oh, no..." Smash gasped. It was then when he got the com-link with Gizmo. "Gizmo! What's going on!?"

"Smash, you're back! I have no idea, the hotel just started shaking!"

"V's mark suddenly appeared all over the city!" Splice exclaimed. "He must be trying to take us out or slow us down before we can reach the Harmonia Gemstone!"

Just as Splice was finished explaining, a stampede of people exploded through the front doors of the hotel. Mixed and scattered within the herd was everyone from Mobius. "Everyone! Head to the beach!" Levi shouted above the uproar. Wes suddenly appeared near the entrance to the hotel, away from the stampede and holding a sleeping Ciel in his arms.

Tendril rose up from the shadows near the heroes and Tsunami appeared beside him. Inverse Inferna managed to fight her way through the crowd, then ran over to Tendril's other side and hugged his arm. Remembering that this wasn't her Tendril, she let go and apologized.

Panzyr leapt up into the air and took flight.

Without wasting another second, Smash lead his group towards the beach as fast as he could. Silver soon came out of the hotel, being the last one out as he was making sure everyone left safely.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, V and his henchmen were following Leatherhead, who was taking them to an unknown destination.

"Are you picking up your guys first? Or are we going straight to Demon's Isle?" Ibara asked.

"We are already here," a mysterious voice said. In a puff of black smoke, Victor, the bat from the park, appeared next to Leatherhead. His upward gaze also showed that Skyrat was flying high above them. From behind approached Burst and a new face, a mole. "Let's get this show on the road," Burst called out with excitement. Leatherhead sighed and introduced, "My...associates, the Street Cleaners. Victor: stealth infiltration, Skyrat: reconnaissance and muscle work, Shades: tactician, and Burst: the boss."

V immediately recognized Burst, and softly chuckled. "This is your boss?" he asked sarcastically. "Back in my world, you were none too bright. Nonetheless, that must mean that you are quite the leader."

"And now you gotta follow us, or you don't get your gemstone," Burst chuckled back, "Don't act so high and mighty, lord V. You know you can't get what you want without our help, so keep it in check." Leatherhead then whispered something into his ear, and he seemed to calm down. "My apologies," Leatherhead said to V, "He is still somewhat sceptic in regards to you quest for domination, and doesn't fully realize the kind of greatness he speaks with." It wasn't very well hidden that Leatherhead was kissing up to V, and that Burst absolutely hated it.

"There's always a clash when two great leaders meet," V said, "It can't be helped. Now, are we going to get this gemstone or not?"

Leatherhead looked up to Skyrat once more and gave a nod, then answered, "Indeed we are. Though the Harmonia Gemstone is airbound, it's protection is impenetrable; not even one as powerful as yourself could breach it. For that reason we will travel by water, and dive to reach Demon Isle. As your minions and I agreed, you will give us time to raid the isle for spoils. Afterwards, with a small donation of your power, we can carry out the measures necessary to drop the barrier, and the gemstone will be yours. Does that sound reasonable?" he gave a little smirk, looking up once more to Skyrat.

"I would like to know a few more details before I give a portion of my power to a group of random people," V replied, "for example: How are you going to do this? Is that all you are going to use it for? Or are you going to keep a small bit for yourself."

"The power is not for us," this time it was Victor who answered, "We can't drop the shield by just flipping a few switches, so there'll be points when we'll need you to step in." Burst spoke up again and added (somewhat sarcastically), "Surely someone as powerful as yourself can take care of a few puny magical defenses."

"And surely one as intelligent as yourself knows not to toy with forces he know nothing of," V said sarcastically. "Which reminds me..." He twisted his right foot a little to the left, and, suddenly, a massive web of green, glowing circuits covered almost all of the ground in the city. The citizens of Station Square didn't seem to notice, but Burst and his group were able to. "So that's where the are," V said softly to himself, then turned his head to face Burst. "Come on. Let's get moving." He then looked directly into Burst's eyes, and asked, "You do have some form of transportation, don't you?"

Burst chuckled a little; he strangely loved to be underestimated. "You serious?" he said, "We're proffessionals, man, of course we've got a transport." Leatherhead then nodded to Victor, who waved his arm and cast a wave of shadows over the group. Within a moment it faded, revealing them to now be in what looked like an offshoot of a sewer system. The wall behind them was blocked off, and in the water next to them was what looked like a submarine.

V was undisturbed by the entire ordeal, instead getting even more impatient, as he sensed the heroes from Mobius had escaped his little trap. "Let's hurry. they're getting closer."

"Of course," Leatherhead replied, "After you." He gestured to the submarine, who's entry hatch had now opened.

Part 9: Demons and Harmony
Beat, Banzai, Kleft and Levi had made it to the beach, and were waiting for the other heroes to arrive. "So, Gizmo's airship is around here somewhere, right?" Banzai asked.

"Guys!" Thunder called out, several feet away from them. "Over here!" Behind him, Gizmo's ship steadily hovered above the ground.

Smash's group came running towards the ship as fast as they could. Splice whizzed right by all of them, making it up the ramp of the ship first.

"You guys go," Kleft said, "I'll make sure everyone gets on safely." Beat, Banzai and Levi obeyed and ran towards the ship, making it up the ramp in no time.

Tsunami materialized on top of the ship. Tendril and Inverse Inferna ran up as well. The Inferna that accompanied the heroes to this plane, who had returned with Smash's team, followed them up the ramp and onto the ship.

Then Gideon and Panzyr arrived.

"Hurry up and get inside you guys!" Kleft said to Giedon and Panzyr, motioning for them to enter the craft. Then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a razor sharp disk of energy sliced through part of the ramp leading to the airship, startling Banzai and causing him to fall off of it.

Panzyr, who was still airborne, flew towards Banzai in the hopes of catching him before he hit the ground. Banzai landed safely in Panzyr's arms. "Thanks man," he said, a little embarrasses by his blunder. Just then, another energy disk flew towards the duo in the sky.

"Who's throwing those?!" Panzyr barked.

"Just get inside!" said Gideon, pulling out his riot gun. Aiming at the energy disk, he shot at it, hoping to disrupt its course, just as Panzyr flew inside the airship.

The bullet shattered the disk like glass, the shards fading away in a matter of seconds. The mysterious attacker then descended from the skies, riding a larger, red energy disk. It was revealed to be a blue cat with red hair, who looked remarkably similar to Beat. "Sorry, but I can;t let you guys leave," he said.

As the rest of the people headed towards the ship, Kyle and Keela stopped and turned to face the cat. They drew their swords, ready to defend the ship. "You are bold to try and stop us by yourself!" Kyle remarked. "Or have you brought backup?"

"Wait, is that....me?" Beat said in shock.

Within the ship, several chao were yelling out status reports on the damage done to the ship. Gizmo, seemingly ignoring them, leaned forward in the cockpit's chair. "...Is that Beat!?" He asked, somewhat shocked.

"It must be is alternate counterpart." Lightning said. "The real Beat just got on board!"

"Alright, then." Gizmo said, now giving a serious look. "Man your battle stations! Target the enemy with all the main cannons. We need to buy us enough time to get everyone on board."

Several chao began to scramble away. Soon, outside of the ship, several hatches opened up to reveal turrets and cannons sliding out and aiming directly towards the cat. It wasn't long before they all began to open fire. The turrets shot several lasers like a machine gun, while cannons were shooting powerful and dense plasma balls at their enemy.

"Wait, don't fire!" Beat yelled just as all cannons opened fire on the cat. ''My power mainly focuses on defence, but I'm pretty good at offence as well. If I had really wanted to stop the ship, I would have used a massive razor disk to cut off its wing...unless this me can't, which means he must specialize solely in..''.

The cat smiled. "Hrrragh!" He extended both arms, and several translucent, reflective red disks appeared between him and the airship. When disks came into contact with the lasers, their angle and position caused the lasers to be reflected back at the ship. This happened with much of the gunfire, however the plasma balls simply plowed through the field of mirrors. The cat reacted by creating a disk beneath him and flying through the air to avoud the plasma balls.

Those lasers that did make it through to the ship were deflected by Tsunami, still standing on top of it.

((No offence intended, but you should say how she did it Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 14:56, October 23, 2011 (UTC)))

Once he was out of the ship's firing range, the cat generated two razor disks and threw them at the ship. They were sharp enough to run right through the ship if they weren't stopped.

Keela took out her bow and shot as many arrows as she could at one of the two oncoming disks. Kyle stood next to her, focusing on the other disk. His sword began to glow as he silently chanted to himself. Once the disk was in range, he sprung towards it, holding his sword behind him. Out of nowhere, several pieces of rock covered the blade of his sword, and it soon became encased in stone. He swung his now bulky sword upwards to smash the disk off course, and quickly brought it back down to send it hurtling towards the ground.

"Ugh..we don't have time for this!" Smash exclaimed in frustration, within the ship. "This is going to take too long."

"Obviously V's made a few contacts since he's been here," Levi said. "We can't afford to waste any time. I'm going to go outside and help fight off these guys. See if you can gather anyone who can fight and come outside."

Banzai was tossing several small balls of chaos energy at the cat in the sky, but he swerved, dipped and rose continuously, avoiding every single attack made at him.

After seeing all their attempts to beat him failing, Smash finally had enough. "Gizmo, Where did you put the "Magic Wings"?" He asked.

Gizmo looked over at him. "The Magic Wings? I put it with the supplies out back." He said. "Wait...You're not going to go up there head to head, are you?"

"Heck Yeah I am!" He exclaimed. "Look, You guys need to go on ahead. We'll find a way to catch up."

"I'll come with you." Pearl said.

"No, there's only on-"

"Actually I made an extra for backup. They're both back there." Gizmo said. "Now hurry!"

Smash and Pearl exchanged glances, and nodded at eachother before running off.

"It's my double you guys are fighting," Beat said, "so I might as well go to help!"

"Gizmo, do you have any sparse pieces of technology lying around? I might be able to create soemthing to help us," Levi said.

Gizmo nodded. "Back there with the other supplies, I've got a lot of spare parts amongst other things. Just don't do anything too drastic to the things I've already invented, okay?"

Back outside the ship, the cat hovered high above the airship, looking down at the massive craft. A grey hedgehog--like being with brown hair and bat wings and a devil tail hovered next to him. "Got a plan?" he asked.

"Do we need a plan? Just blow it up," he replied.

Soon, Smash and Pearl flew out from the back of the ship. Two majestic wings had sprouted from their backs, with the help of the contraption that they had strapped to themselves. The wings were translucent, glittering and sparkling with every flap. Smash's were white with cyan highlights, while Pearl's were white with light pink highlights and shaped like a butterfly's wings. The two echidna's shot towards the cat and hedgehog together, ready to defend their ship.

Tsunami, now covered in black, flame patterned markings, leapt into the air and thrust two spheres of lightning at the two, holding one in each hand.

"Gonna do anything about those?" the hedgehog-like creature asked, pointing towards the rapidly approaching heroes.

"What? Oh yeah, gimme a second." The cat raised his hands above his head and slowly brought them down, forming a circle with the both of them. A large, translucent red bubble formed around the two, and exerted a powerful repelling force on those who got within a foot's distance from it.

Smash and Pearl stopped at the force, and felt themselves bounce backwards. They both quickly regained their composure, and Pearl charged back into it. She fought against the repelling force, trying to force her way through it.

"Argh, she's getting through!" the cat said. "Crescendo, do something about them!"

"Sure thing," the devil-creature said as he flew out of the barrier. Once outside, he fired a beam of black lightning-like energy at Pearl.

Unable to get away, Pearl held her arms in front of her face to defend herself as she continued to fly forward. Smash immediately flew in between Crescendo and Pearl, releasing a blast of energy as he transformed into his High Tension state. He held his hands out towards the lightning-like energy, letting his own energy flowing around him to blow it back towards him.

The energy dispersed and vanished as it was blown away by Smash's energy. "Aw, come on. That was a perfect shot!" Crescendo said disappointedly.

"I don't have time for the likes of you," Smash said, coldly. "So I'm just going to make this short and sweet." In the next instant, Smash's fist was inches away from plowing into his stomach.

However, Smash's fist was abruptly stopped by a strong yet small red disk that suddenly appeared between him and Crescendo.

"Pay attention you half-wit," the cat said, then turned his attention back to Pearl.

Pearl closed her eyes and held her fist back, she was almost through the barrier. She was focusing the rest of her strength into her arm, ready to attack as soon as she was through.

The cat shrunk the barrier surrounding him into a concentrated wall of energy between him and Pearl. This dense, the repelling force was much stronger than before. Pearl ended up stopping in place for a few seconds, before being blown back entirely. She managed to flip up-right before flying too far away, and charged right back towards him.

Smash didn't let the disk stop him. He threw a punch towards his head and his shoulder with both hands, while throwing a kick with his left leg towards his hip. He planned to overwhelm him at once, and as soon as each blow arrived at their target, he forced his energy outward to blow him away.

Just as the punch collided, Crescend released an explosive burst of negative energy from his body, which separated him from Smash. He rubbed his head a bit, feeling a little bit of the pain he would have felt from the punch. "Geez, man. That hurt," he said.

"You expect it to tickle?" Smash scoffed, getting ready to attack again.

The cat was much more composed than his friend. As soon as Pearl was blown back, he dashed forward, throwing a couple of razor risks at her.

As she got close, she suddenly swerved away from the cat altogether and flew towards Crescendo at an alarming rate.

Beat slowly rose into the air, riding a blue energy disk, to the air battlefield. "Might as well see what I can do."

Suddenly, another combatant appeared on the field, a monkey who looked a lot like Banzai, only this monkey could fly without the use of his staff. He charged out of nowhere and aimed to attack Smash from behind and catch him off guard. Before his attack reached him, Pearl appeared before him and blocked the attack. Smash glanced behind him, somewhat startled by the new opponent as Pearl tried to counter by thrusting her knee into his gut. However, she found herself hitting nothing but air, for the attacked abruptly vanished.

Smash quickly turned his attention back to Crescendo and charged towards him. He wanted nothing more than this to end quickly. Suddenly, the monkey reappeared in front of Smash, cutting him off from Crescendo and aiming to punch him straight in the face.

"Oh great, he's here," the cat whined. Realising that Pearl was no longer focused on him, he turned his attention toward Tsunami, at whom he proceeded to throw several razor sharp energy disks.

Smash wasn't quick enough to dodge the punch, and took it with full force. He was sent sprawling backwards in mid-air, but quickly regained his balance. He growled at the monkey in front of him, seemingly offended by his presence. He flew back towards the monkey, ready to pay him back in spades.

Pearl flew up into the air, looking down at her three opponents. She contemplated on which one she should attack as she tensed her muscles. She waited for the right moment; for when one of them let their guard down...

"ANOTHER one!?" Gizmo exclaimed, both in shock and in anger.

"Hey wait a minute, that guy looks like Banzai!" Splice exclaimed. "I thought that dude got arrested!"

"V probably got him out," Paroi suggested. "Looks like he's been pretty active lately.'

Tsunami put her hand out in front of her, a sphere of electricity appearing in the palm, lightning lancing off in all directions. She seemed to care less about why the Inverse Banzai was here than she did about her own self defense.

The monkey dashed towards Smash, aiming for a fist fight with the echidna. Meanwhile the cat continued heading for tsunami, the several disks he threw about to close in on her.

Crescendo, realizing that Pearl wasn't fighting anyone, fired a blast of negative energy at her.

Tsunami slammed her sphere of lightning into the disks, knocking them off course. Immediately afterwards, she threw the sphere at the cat. As soon as it left her hand, the sphere became incredibly unstable, ready to explode upon impact with any solid object.

The cat generated a barrier to deflect the sphere back at Tsunami, but something bothered him about the way the sphere looked as it approached him. His eyes widened as it got closer, and then thought better of deflecting it and swerved to the side. "You're a tough one aren't you?" he asked.

Pearl swiftly dodged the negative energy with ease. She stayed airborne, now having to be extra careful with someone's attention on her.

As soon as Smash reached the monkey, he quickly thrust his fist towards his chest, letting out a blast of energy in the process. He was building up his energy as he fought. He quickly followed up with a chain of powerful attacks, each getting stronger and faster by the second.

This monkey was obviously not Banzai. His skill in close combat was much greater than Banzai's. He expertly parried Smash's first punch to the side, redirecting the blast, unintentionally, towards Crescendo, who reeled away in surprise. He then parried every one of Smash's following attacks, all the while his cold hard gaze never leaving Smash's face.

Kyle and Keela walked back into the ship. "With the battle taking place high above the ship, there is little we can do to help." Kyle said. "Please forgive us." He and his sister bowed quickly with shame.

Gizmo turned his gaze away from him and towards the battle. "We're not gonna finish this anytime soon." He grumbled. "That's it. Prepare for take off!"

"Wait, what? You're not gonna wait for them to get back?" Banzai asked, concerned about his friends' safety.

"Hold your horses guys," said Levi, wheeling in a large telescope-chaped contraption. "This just might be the key to getting us out of here."

"Uh...what's that?" Banzai asked.

"I call it the MSCTGUOOH, or Machine-Solely-Created-To-Get-Us-Out-Of-Here. Unfortunately, I used up my last energy cells making this, so I won't be able to create anything else."

"What does it do?"

"Well, in theory, we can use it to lock onto our attackers up there. Then these small guns built into the side-" he waved towards six cylindrical protrusions sticking out of the side of the machine "-will fire several homing energy blasts towards them. They travel incredibly fast and are extremely accurate. It'll be difficult for them to dodge or block. But that's only the gist of it. While they're busy focusing on the blasts, the machine will also fire several tiny, almost invisible microchips, that will latch onto them. Then I'll be able to use my technokinesis to render them...unable to fight."

"Whoa, Really?" Gizmo felt a new spark of hope come over him. "Well what're we waiting for? Let's use it!"

"Chao!" Kitty exclaimed, punching his fist into the air.

"Well, the thing is...I used my last power cell on this thing, but it's still not enough. I need a little more power to get it working and I was hoping you had someting I could use."

"Oh...Is that all?" Gizmo smiled. "'Course I got something! Let's go back there and I'll show you." He hopped down from his seat and began to run back to the supply room. "Kitty, Take over for me!"

Kitty nodded, and hovered above the pilot's seat.

Back in the supply room, Gizmo shuffled around through a box amongst many others. "Here, I've got all the shards of the Power Crystal--except for the one I use for myself." He took out a bag with 11 crystal fragments, each glowing faintly. "This could be a useful power source, but it's not the most powerful one out there. Should be helpful, though." He then looked through another box, and soon slid it towards him. "Here, I've got just about every type of Elemental Ring." He said, waving his hand across piles of bracelet sized rings of a wide assortment of colors, each arranged by type. "Made sure to buy plenty before they shut down the factory. Now most of these can be a bit tricky to harness, but the easiest and possibly the most effective ones would be the Lightning elemental rings. Be sure to take the strongest kinds; You'll know which once you see it."

Levi was a bit overwhelmed by the sudden abundance of items Gizmo provided him. "Well, uh....that's quite a bit of power you're packing," he said. He took the bag containing the crystal shards, and weighed it in his hand. "I can feel the power coming out from this," he said. Then he looked to the box of Elemental Rings. "These may come in handy later, I'm sure. He picked up a couple of rings, one of each colour. "All right then! How many can I use?" he asked.

"For the Power Crystal, I think we should leave at least one or two in case we need it for something else." He said. "But I've got enough rings to spare, so take as many as you need!"

"Thanks!" Levi said, and put the rings in his pocket. He then rushed back over to his device, and stuffed the two power crystal shards into a compartment built into its side. Tiny nodes running along the body of the machine started to glow bright yellow. "All right then, let's hope this works!" He pressed a few keys on the side of the machine and suddenly several bright yellow energy bolts shot out of the airship at incredible speed, their tails still hanging in the air and leaving basketball-sized holes in the wall of the airship. "Maybe I should have taken it outside first, hehe," Levi said, scratching his neck nervously.

Gizmo stood behind him, staring at the wall blankly with a sweat drop rolling down the side of his face. "Uhh...yeah..."

A lone, female hedgehog with blue fur was seen running through the street nearby. Noticing the bright yellow light out of the corner of her eye, she glanced over at the group and stopped to observe the fight. After a brief moment, she smirked, muttering to herself, "Looks like fun. I think I'll join in." She turned to face the direction she had come from, watching the red and blue flashing lights on the horizon, but getting closer. Her smirk broadened as the sound of the police sirens was heard from the source of the lights. "But first I'll have to take care of the fanboys."

She held her hand out in the direction of the oncoming police cars. To anyone else, it would appear as if the driver of the lead car were planning on hitting the hedgehog and finally putting and end to her crime spree, but the driver and the hedgehog knew differently. This gesture of raising one hand toward the car was far from meaningless. In actuality, the car was not stopping because this girl was hydrokinetically tampering with the brake fluids, making it impossible for the car to stop. As a result, it slammed into her outstretched hand and finally halted, unable to continue forward.

The woman had stood her ground, hardly pushed an inch by the car, whose hood had crumpled like aluminum foil in her hand. The asphalt below her feet was also cracked slightly, though not by much. She remained in that same position with her hand on the crumpled hood of the car, as the five others drove around and pulled to a stop on all sides, closing her in. The driver and the passenger of each car stepped out of their vehicles and each aimed a gun in the hedgehog's direction, though she stood her ground and remained motionless, intimidated by the twelve weapons all trained on her head. She smirked again and sent an electrical current through the first car, watching silently as a single bolt of electricity jumped from the car to each of the others, and to each of the officers. Only when all six vehicles had electricity coursing through them did she allow the energy to strike the gas tanks of all the cars at once, igniting the fuel and causing the cars to erupt in a violent explosion, killing the officers and any civilian that had gotten too close.

Banzai suddenly jumped upon hearing the large explosion outside. "What the heck was that!?" he yelled.

"I don't know," Levi said, "right now I'm a bit preoccupied controlling the chips. Go check it out for me, would you?"

"I'll go too," Wes said, running outside, followed by Banzai.

The two rushed outside, only to find a large, burning crater in the middle of the road, a female hedgehog standing amidst the remains of destroyed cars and a few corpses. "Who...are you?" Banzai asked, referring to the hedgehog. The hedgehog turned to face him, her smirk returning. Her appearance very strongly resembled that of another of the beings he knew: Tsunami. "I have a few names," she replied, "But I assume you're asking for my real one?"

"No, we want the name you use to get into clubs," Wes replied sarcastically. Clearly he wasn't as intimidated as Banzai was. "Who are you?" he repeated. "Aquella Oceania," the Tsunami copy replied, "Now that you know who I am, wanna see why I'm so famous in this city?" She raised her hand and a tiny needle of concentrated electrical energy formed between two fingers. Without waiting for a response, she threw the needle at Wes with amazing speed and accuracy. If the needle hit its mark, electricity would course through Wes' body, paralyzing him and sending a bolt of energy into Banzai as well, with the same effect.

As soon as she moved her fingers, Wes teleported between the needle and Aquella, and moved to jab his elbow hard into her face. Banzai simply jumped back as Wes vanished, luckily putting him out of harm's way. {C}{C}{C As if seeing the attack coming ahead of time, Aquella immediately dropped to the ground, dodging the elbow. She then kicked straight up, aiming for Wes' chin, while the needle swerved in midair and flew at Banzai from behind.

Suddenly, there was a sharp crack; the unmistakable report of a rifle. A bullet collided with the electric needle.

Wes teleported again, this time at a distance. This one's powerful, he thought to himself, yet he wasn't afraid; if anything, recently, he felt empowered. When he heard the sound of a rifle, he glanced in the direction of the sound.

Aquella glanced over as well. Two more needles appeared in her hands, and her eyes changed color, the whites changing to cyan and the pupils to dark blue.

The gunshot came from Gideon, who was holding his rifle.

"Thanks man," Banzai said, then turned to Aquella. "What's your problem? do you just go around picking fights?" He generated a large ball of chaos energy in his hand and tossed it at Aquella.

Aquella lept to the side, just far enough to avoid the ball, and retaliated by hurling several more needles at the three. "Why not?" she asked in response, "I haven't lost one yet. Not even the cops can catch me, let alone beat me."

Banzai thrust his hand forward, shooting a green energy wave at Aquella, destroying the needles in the process. Wes simply teleported several times to avoid the flurry of needles. After the needles had stopped, Banzai said, "There's a first time for everything."

"Maybe so," she replied, "But can you really take on a serial killer who just blew up six cop cars simply by placing her hand on one?" Another few needles materialized, which she threw at them.

Banzai crossed his arms accross his chest, then flung them to his sides and thrust his chest forward, creating an explosive wave of chaos energy around him, dispelling the needles. "That sounds nice, but don't even get me started on what I've been through over the past few days." He then motioned towards Wes. "You go help out the others. I'll take on the drama queen." Wes nodded, and vanished in a purple flash.

Aquella continued throwing needles at him, until one seemed to have the tiniest spark of black in it, though it would be hard for Banzai to tell with the needle moving so quickly. Quickly, Banzai pulled out his staff, the green gem on the end glowing brightly. He expertly spun his staff around his body, the green gem absorbing the electrical needles.

Aquella stopped throwing the needles and watched carefully. Several of the needles she launched before he pulled the staff were still scattered around his feet. With small, almost unnoticable movements in her fingers, she aranged some of the needles into a ring around his feet, each of them suddenly sporting the same black streak.

Banzai noticed the needles moving at his feet, and released another burst of chaos energy to scatter them. He then threw his staff, which is much heavier than it looks, like a javelin towards Aquella, the gem at it's top glowing brightly.

Aquella sidestepped the staff as the needles immediately returned to their positions in a ring around him. Before he could react again, Aquella closed her left eye as blood began to trickle from her right. A strange, dark blue symbol appeared on her iris and the black sparks flared up into flames, forming a tall ring of black fire around Banzai. Aquella then appeared floating above the opening in the ring, both eyes open now and the same symbol on her other iris. Banzai appeared to be completely consumed by the flames, as there didn't seem to be any way he could avoid them.

The hedgehog's grin melted into an annoyed scowl, since the ring of fire should have only trapped her opponent, not burned him in any way. It was a ring of fire, after all, not a solid pillar. However, looking closely, she could see a small hole in the ground where Banzai was, as if he had tunneled underground.

Suddenly, Banzai burst out from the ground and into the air behind Aquella, now sporting a new look: his fur and flesh were red tinted, his hair now more rigid and upright, his pupils were invisible and he had a small, fiery red aura surrounding him. Banzai thrust his fist forward to deal a powerful punch to Aquella.

Without turning around, Aquella allowed the punch to connect with her back, immediately dissolving into water and allowing Banzai to pass through her. When he had moved far enough away, her form solidified once more and she gave a slight smirk. "These eyes can sense any change in any body of water, including the moisture in the air," she explained, "You can't sneak up on me, no matter how stealthy you are."

"In that case," he said, "what about an attack you can't see?" He took a massive breath, causing his chest to swell. Suddenly, without warning, he released a massive ear-shredding sonic scream that vigorously shook every molecule within range of the sound. All around, windows and glass shattered and buildings began to crack and crumble. The destroyed police cars were blown away like paper in a breeze. Banzai didn't appear to show any concern to the effects his attack was having on his comrades.

Unsure of how to counter or evade this attack, and with the attack moving at the speed of sound, Aquella was soon clutching at her ears to keep them from going deaf under the sonic assault, while the wall of sound pushed her back several hundred feet before she thought to use the moisture in the air to anchor her to the ground. With the intense sonic waves barely being slowed at all by her hands, Aquella found it incredibly difficult to think of a solution to this new problem, and instead found herself just hoping the deafening onslaught would end soon.

Her wish was granted, and Banzai ceased his ear-shredding cry. ''That should shake up the water molecules in the area a bit. If I'm lucky, it'll be harder for this girl to manipulate the water for a short while, he thought to himself.'' Banzai then to teleported some distance behind Tsunami, then unleashed a shower of glowing green energy blasts upon her.

Aquella turned and brought her arms up in front of her in defense. As Banzai had predicted, it took a moment for the moisture in the air to respond to her call, signalling that she was having some difficulty controlling it. Nonetheless, she managed to bring the moisture into a water barrier in front of her, using its reflective properties as a mirror to send the energy back at Banzai.

Banzai wasn't backing off. He charged and fired a larged chaos bolt towards Aquella, delfecting the other shots. However, once it got within a foot from her, it exploded into several smmaller energy blasts that dispersed away from her and around the area. After a few seconds, they suddenly froze in place, as if awaiting instructions.

Fully expecting to have had to use a certain forbidden move, Aquella was surprized to see the bolts freeze in place. "What are you waiting for?" she asked him, "Weren't you gonna kill me?" She continued watching the bolts carefully, just in case they suddenly started moving again.

In the middle of her sentence, Banzai teleported to just in front of her, yet slightly below her face because her eyes freaked him out, and thrust his foot forward in an attempt to deal a powerful kick to her stomach.

With lightning-fast reflexes, Aquella caught the foot in both hands just centimeters from its target. She backed up a bit, carefully avoiding the bolts behind her, to get a better grip on the foot and ankle. Despite any efforts by Banzai to retrieve his leg, Aquella held on tight, her grip hard as steel. {C}{C}{C Realizing his efforts were futile, Banzai stopped resisting. Instead, a fiery red aura began to flare up along his body, and it only grew bigger and bigger. Aquella could feel an intense burning sensation as she held his leg which only intensified as the aura grew bigger.

Aquella winced slightly at the pain and released his leg, but only with one hand. She raised it up high, holding the leg firmly in her other hand, as a needle of lightning appeared in the hand she raised. She brings her arm down, stabbing the needle into Banzai's leg, which would send an electric current through him and paralyze him.

At the last second, Banzai released the energy he had been building up in a powerful explosive wave of power, repelling Aquella away from him with great force. {C}{C}{C Aquella was thrown back by the blast and hit the ruined pavement hard. She jumped to her feet and opened her eyes wide, staring deep into Banzai's eyes. Soon, the symbols on her irises began to spin, slowly at first, but rapidly gaining speed.

Silently and seemingly out of nowhere, a paper thin yet razor sharp translucent blue energy disk, roughly 5 ft in diameter, headed toward Aquella at high speed. Sensing the threat, Aquella immediately stopped what she was doing and dropped to the ground, under the disk.

Beat slowly descended next to Banzai, standing atop a large, floating blue disk. "What do you think you're doing? Are you insane!?"

Banzai quickly recovered from the daze that had been coming over him. "What do you mean? What are you doing here?"

"First you take on Tsunami's counterpart, and we al know how she is, then you destroy our ears with that sonic shriek, and now you're preventing us from going after V!"

"Geez, sorry," Banzai said, slowly reverting back to his original form. His fur returned to its normal brown colour, his hair fell back down and his skin changed from red to tan. He then plopped down on Beat's disk. he turned back to Aquella for a second. "Sorry! Gotta go. Nice fightin' with you; you're really tough you know?" Aquella stood back up. "What, you're gonna leave and go play with your cooler friends?" she replied with mock disappointment, "But we were having so much fun!"

"Yeah, pretty much, hehe," Banzai said, sticking his tounge out at Aquella. "Later! Come on, let's go to Demon's Isle," Banzai said to Beat, just loud enough for Aquella to hear, as the two hovered away and back to the airship. "Demon's Isle, huh?" Aquella muttered to herself once the two were out of earshot, "I don't think they'll mind much if I tag along...." Another needle of solid lightning materiallized in her hand. She threw it in the direction of the airship, piercing the side of the ship, but not causing any noticeable damage, other than a needle-thin hole in the side.

"Incoming!" the cat yelled at the top of his lungs. The energy bolts sped out from the ship and where closing on on its attackers. The cat easily created a powerful barrier around himself, deflecting the beam. To his surprise, the beam bounced off, circled around, and rammed into the barrier again, and again, and again.

Crescendo was more prepared. He fired a concentrated beam of black lightning at the energy sphere aiming for him. After a few seconds, the bolt exploded in a flurry of bright yellow sparks. While he smirked, the tiny computer chip quickly attached itself to his arm, without Crescendo noticing it.

Noticing that her enemies were preoccupied, Pearl dove down towards the cat from above. She held her fist behind her, building up as much strength as she could. I know it won't be nearly as powerful as Smash's, but I have to make do...Here goes! As soon as she got close enough, she unleashed a powerful punch towards the cat's head. She forced herself into the barrier, hoping to break through it as she yelled just before impact, "Divine FIST!!"

With the barrier already damaged by the repeated blows of the energy bolt, Pearl's Divine Fist shattered the cat's defenses, and hit the cat directly in the head. Althought the blow was softened thanks to the barrier, it still sent the cat flying towards the ground.

"Yes!" Pearl exclaimed through gritted teeth. Knowing that it still wasn't over, she turned towards Crescendo, and flew towards him, ready to try and take him by surprise too.

Just before the cat hit the ground, something else struck at him with the same amount of force as Pearl's fist, possibly blowing him back into the hotel in the distance. Alternate David stood just a few feet from the ship, and had been waiting for just the right moment to do that.

"Aaaaghh!" the cat cried out as he flew helplessly into the building, now out of the picture.

The monkey who wasn't Banzai and Smash were still exchanging punches, when the last energy bolt appeared. With the two of them so close, it looked like the blast would hit them both.

Smash noticed a light to his side, getting brighter by the second. He glanced over at the source, and his eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "Oh CRAAAP!!" He cried out. He tried to scramble out of the way before he was struck by the blast.

The monkey brought his arms accross his body, and tried to block the blast. He took it full force, an explosion of bright yellow appearing as he was hit. When it faded, he was badly damaged; much of his fur looked burnt, and some of his flesh looked raw. However, amidst all the chaos, he noticed something else flying towards him: a tiny computer chip. He grapped it in his hand, and crushed it.

"Well, that should do it," Levi said. His eyes faded to blue-white, a similar coloured aura forming around his hands. With great force, he brought his hands down to the ground.

Suddenly, Crescend was thrown directly to the ground by some invisible force. He landed ungracefully on the coast of the beach, generating a large cloud of sand in the process. "Dammit!" I can't move!" He cried out. "What kind of crap is this!?"

Seeing Crescendo suddenly slam into the ground caught Pearl off guard. "What the-...What in the world?" She muttered aloud. Trying to push her confusion aside, they only had one more enemy in their way. She continued her course towards him instead. She wasn't expecting to catch him off guard at this point, but he still needed to be taken care of.

Smash took in a few deep breaths, after managing to narrowly escape the blast. Too close... He thought. He looked back at the monkey, and noticed that he had taken it pretty badly. ''He's weakened..Now's my chance to finish this! ''He shot back towards him, seemingly about to headbutt him.

Although he was badly damaged, the monkey's movements were not restrained. His faced grimaced in pain, he pushed off seemingly nothing, and dashed towards Smash, about to deal and elbow strike to his head. {C}{C}{C Smash headed towards him at full throttle. At the right moment, Smash swiftly ducked his head lower, and performed a quick flip--made even quicker with a sudden and accurately timed burst of energy. As he was turning upright, he brought down his foot towards his head with a mighty axe kick. Due to his damaged state, the monkey wasn't able to react in time, and took both blows. The monkey quickly spiralled towards the ground, but just before landing, he flipped rightside up and pushed himself off the ground and back towards Smash.

Smash continued his pursuit, flying down towards the monkey with his arm readied for a punch. Before the two could reach attacking distance, however, Pearl interrupted with an attempt to ram her fist into the monkey's side, trying to take him by surprise. The monkey reacted quickly, floating just above Pearl and kicking her hard into her brother. {C}{C}{C Before Pearl flew too far out of control, Smash caught her in his arms. The force pushed them both back a bit. "You okay?" He asked, letting go of her.

"Y-yeah...Sorry." She said, drifting to his side while clutching her stomach. "Knocked the wind outta me..." Smash looked back at the monkey, giving him a hateful glare. The monkey grinned in response. "You might want to get your sister out of here," he said, for the first time. "She might get hurt." Compared to Banzai's high, energetic voice, his voice was deep and ominous.

Pearl glared at him, quite offended by his statement. Smash felt a pang of surprise, but never let his cold glare leave his face. 'How did he know she was my sister?' He thought. "You might want to get your butt out of here. It might get hurt even worse."

(Oops. that one kinda slipped out lol. Let's just say he could tell because they looked alike and he was well informed by V. Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 22:13, November 19, 2011 (UTC))

"You have strong words, but so far you haven't lived up to them. I, on the other hand, should be able to pay my debt and get rid of you two even in my damaged state," he replied.

"Teh. You've barely pushed either of us." Smash said. "But if that's what you think..." He returned to his battle stance.

"Don't think that you'd win even if you take us both down." Pearl reminded him, soon getting into her battle stance as well. "Even if you beat us, there's no way you'd be able to take on every one else by yourself."

"It doesn't matter. My goal is to delay your departure, not outright kill you all," he replied. "Now, if you're done talking..." with surprising speed, he dashed towards Smash and attacked with a flurry of high speed punches directed at various points over his body.

Smash reacted just as quickly, managing to block just about every punch aimed at him. Soon, he suddenly thrust both of his palms forward, releasing a blast of energy around himself. The energy seemed to form a rippling barrier, which created a powerful repelling force.

{C}{C}{C "Way to go, Levi!" Gizmo cheered. "You took two of them down, and weakened the other! That speeds things up a lot!"

"Thanks," Levi said, his face showing visible strain from holding Crescendo in place.

"Now, we need to take initiative." Gizmo hopped back into the pilot's seat, and Kitty flew up to his shoulder. "We're already low on time, so we need to either run and leave this monkey, or take him out quickly. Or both." He looked around, "Hey wait, we're missing a few people." He said.

"Banzai's outside fighting what looks like Tsunami's counterpart with Gideon, while Wes now is coming back inside," Levi said, just as Wes walked into the room. "Need any help?" he asked.

"Tsunami's Counterpart?" Gizmo asked, looking at him in surprise. "When did..?" He shook his head, and looked towards the battle above them. "As soon as we're ready to take off, they need to come back to the ship. I'm going to prepare to fire at the enemy; We need to overwhelm him. If there's anything else you can do, it'd be a good time to do it now."

"Nothing much I can really do at this point," Levi replied. "Crescendo's a tough one. Holding him down's not easy."

"I thought as much." Gizmo said. "All cannons, target that monkey! Fire on my mark!" He ordered. All the chao in the crew did as they were told, preparing the guns and cannons to aim for the monkey fighting Smash.

Thunder glanced at the group for a few seconds, and then walked down the ramp, exiting the ship. I can't just stand here, doing nothing... He thought.

Suddenly, an ear-piercing shriek was heard from somewhere outside, vibrating the inside of the airship.

"Aaagh!" Levi covered his ears. It was like feedback from a microphone. "What is that?" he asked.

Gizmo, Kitty, Amber, and all the cat chao in the ship cried out in pain as they covered their ears. "W-What is that noise!?" Gizmo exclaimed, gritting his teeth through the pain.

"Banzai just went Berserker," Beat said walking into the cockpit, a helmet-like barrier of energy covering his head to protect him from the sound.

"What? You mean that was him?" Levi asked, "And what do you mean he went Berserker?"

"He's still on our side. He's just transformed into a more powerful state," Beat replied.

Gideon recoiled and dropped his rifle, holding his ears, his face contorted in agony. On the airship, Panzyr, who's hearing was very sensitive, let out a horrifying howl and began to writhe and flail about, holding his ears tightly.

Gizmo leaned forward in his seat, putting his elbows just between a couple of buttons and levers to keep himself from falling over onto the controls in front of him. "M-Make..it...Stop...!" He cringed. Kitty was rolling around on the floor, he couldn't take any more of it. Amber fell to her knees, her head was in serious pain from the screeching echoing all over the ship.

After a few seconds, the screeching stopped. Levi lowered his hands as relief washed over his face. "Gizmo, are you sure you want to fire? Smash and Pearl are pretty close to the monkey."

Gizmo took his hands off his ears, panting heavily. It took him a few moments to remember what he was doing. "Y-yeah...I think I got an idea..." He said. His voice was shaky as he sat up straight. "Is everyone alright?" He called out. Kitty slowly rose into the air, holding his head with one hand. His eyes were swirling like a couple of spirals.

"Gizmo," Levi said, "we're wasting precious time. We need to leave right now! V's probably already halfway to Demon's Isle! Since most of the people outside can fly, can't they just join us in the air?"

"I know!" He responded. "I was hoping that they'd get back sooner." He snatched the microphone off of it's stand, "Attention everyone! Get back to the ship and prepare for takeoff! We'll be leaving IMMEDIATELY!" He announced. "Banzai, Gideon, do you copy? We need you back at the ship! We're leaving!"

Meanwhile outside, Smash tried his best to block out the sound by keeping up his energy barrier. Pearl, on the other hand, just covered her ears and kept a safe distance from the monkey. Once the sound stopped, Smash let down his barrier and let out a sigh of relief. He looked at the monkey, waiting to see what he would do.

The monkey had covered his ears in order to block out the sound, although one could clearly see that it disturbed him. When it had ended, he lowered his and awaited his opponents' next move.

Clouds began to move in overhead. They could hear the rumbling of thunder above. Smash glanced up at the clouds, taking note of the sudden change of weather. Suddenly, seemingly without warning, a powerful bolt of lightning struck down towards the monkey. Another bolt struck the ground, inches away from the hull of the ship. Smash and Pearl instinctively backed off, startled by both bolts.

The monkey never expected something like that. He was struck by the lighting, his entire body shaking as the electricity ran through him. He cried out in agony for a brief second, then, he clenched his teeth, tensed his body, and simply allowed the electricity to run its course through his body. He descended a bit, but weakly rose back up level to Smash and Pearl. His eyes lowered down to where the second lightning bolt had struck, and he eyed Thunder with malice. He then dashed toward Smash at high speed, and brought his hand back as if he meant to punch him.

On the ground, Thunder stood in the spot where the lightning bolt struck, his hand raised above his head to catch the bolt in his palm. His entire body surged with electricity, making him completely energized. "This is about all I can do for you guys right now, but it should be more than enough to clear the way..." He said, softly. His arms crackled with electricity, as he prepared for another attack.

Smash dropped from his position, falling down head first towards the ground. He quickly looped upward towards the monkey's underside, when he heard the announcement from Gizmo. Before he could reach him, a large ball of electricity shot towards the monkey from the ground. "Pearl! Let's go!" He shouted as he changed course. He headed back towards the ship, and landed on the top.

"Right!" Pearl called back, and followed behind. Gideon followed the two echidnas, pulling out both of his Blacktail handguns in case anyone tried to attack the three.

Thunder stayed on the ramp, holding both hands up in the air as he charged up another attack. Alternate David soon rushed past him to get inside."

Once Smash and Pearl were out of the way, Gizmo pointed forward. "FIRE!" On his command, several bullets and lasers fired at the monkey, which would force him to move onto the defensive. "Transfer power to the main engines!"

As the monkey saw the impending shower of enegry approaching him, he simply smiled, realizing he had only one other option. ''It's been a while since I've had to do this. I've obviously underestimated you all'', he thought to himself, before seemingly vanishing from sight almost as the cannonfire hit him. He had fled from the area, allowing Gizmo and company to take off.

"Chao!" Kitty replied obediently, and pulled a lever near him. The ship began to vibrate as it began to lift off the ground. {C}{C}{C The ship rose into the air, and Gizmo looked around at everyone. "Banzai's still not here." He noticed.

"Beat cha-meow." Kitty said. "Mew mreow-reow."

Gizmo nodded. "Good. Alright, Let's go! Full Speed ahead!" The ship flew off towards the ocean.

"HEY!!! Don't forget us!" Banzai yelled as he and Beat both plopped down aboard the ship's deck at the last moment.

With everyone entering inside, Gizmo let up the ramp and closed the hatch. He briefly opened up the hatch located in the ceiling to let Smash and Pearl in. "Banzai. You're late." Smash said, raising an eyebrow at him. His high tension state faded away as his fur returned to normal. "You left us to deal with your look-alike by ourselves." He could tell he was joking by the tone of his voice.

"Hehe, sorry about that. Got a little sidetracked," he replied. "Hope I didn't give you too musch trouble."

Once they were a good distance from the hotel, Gizmo leaned back in his seat. "Violet, Status report." He said.

Violet, sitting in another chair by a computer, scrolled across the screen and read aloud, "Everything's looking fine. Engines all green, general power at 90%. The ship only faced some minor damages, and a loss of a few of our cannons." She looked over her shoulder. "And those two holes in the wall."

"That shouldn't be too big of a hindrance." Gizmo said.

"Good." Smash looked around at everyone. "Alright, guys. We're all headed into great danger. We might have to fight V face to face, if we're not too late. Now I'm sure the lot of us all know what happened the last two times, but at least we've got backup and know what to expect from him, for the most part. Now I want everyone to make sure that they're prepared!"

"If we are to fight V face to face, then there's somethign that must be done." Levi turned to Wes and said sternly, "You are not allowed anywhere near the battlefield, understood?"

"Wait, what?" Wes muttered, shocked by Levi's sudden change in mood.

"It is for the best," Paroi said upon entering the room. "It would be unfortunate for everyone if you and V tangled once more."

"But why? I've fought with him before, and I wanna see him get his tyrannical butt handed to him!"

"That's because you got lucky." Gizmo said. He leaned back in his chair, folding his arms with his eyes closed. "We'd all be in grave danger if you came in contact with him once more. Which is very unfortunate, because so far you were the only person in our group to ever land a blow on V."

Smash looked at them with a puzzled expression. "Why exactly can't he fight?" He asked.

"It is a long story," Kleft began, "But in a nutshell: Wes and V are two halves of a whole. V's the power and evil half, while Wes's the valiant and good half. The more they interact, the more they kind of become whole again, which is why V's been getting slightly weaker and Wes's been getting stronger. What Mayor Velious said was, if they continue to have contact with eachother, they could end up fusing back into one being, and one of two things can happen. Wes could take over and he'd be a god-powerful good guy, or V could take over and we're all screwed."

"What?" said Ciel shockingly as she came onto the main deck from the lower deck. She had only just woken up from her rest and comme to join the others when she heard the last part of Kleft's explanation. "You and V are the same person?" she said to Wes.

"In a way, yes," Levi replied.

Smash's pupils shrunk from shock. "...N-now I had a sneaking suspicion that they were related in such a way, but Holy CRAP I didn't expect it to be this bad!"

Gizmo nodded. "Though there's an equal chance that Wes could take over when the two come together, it's not a risk we want to take."

Wes's hed lowered in shame and embarrassment. "Wow. I...I never would have guessed that. I mean, I knew we were connected in some way, but..."

"Look," Levi said, "You can stay here and protect Ciel, so you won't be completely empty handed."

Wes simply walked away to the other side of the ship in response.

"So, what now?" Banzai asked. "We wait?"

Gizmo nodded. "Yeah. You guys should rest up, we'll be there in a bit. Take this time to relax your muscles and get ready."

"Ugh, I think that's just what I'll do." Smash said, putting the belt-like contraption, being the Magic Wings he equipped earlier, down on the desk. "I'll be back for these later. I'm gonna go get something to drink."

Pearl did the same, soon following after him. Splice just stood by the window, looking somewhat impatient, yet worried at the same time. ____________________________________________________________________________________________

"We're delaying the ship as much as we can, sir," said a voice inside of V's head.

V placed his index finger to his forehead, and replied, mentally. "Good. The others should be arriving now. Do not let that ship leave."

V and his crew were passengers in Burst's submarine as they entire group of them headed for Demon's Isle.

While Skyrat and Leatherhead manned the cockpit, the rest sat with V and the Daleth. Burst continuously snapped his fingers, generating small wisps of smoke. "I gotta ask ya something," he said to V, "The whole domination gig, what do you really gain from that? I mean, you've got the power, and you know you can do it. Why get it out of the way so quick? You could do so much with that kind of power, just have a blast."

"I have other goals," V replied. "I have more in mind than simple 'dominiation'." He put his fingers to his forehead again and closed his eyes. He opened them a few seconds later, put down his hand, and relaxed. He then turned to Burst. "So exactly how long is this trip?" he asked casually.

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard above the submarine, shattering the cold silence that had hung over the group. "What was that?" Soshiro asked. Kasumi closed his eyes, feeling the motions and vibrations in the water outside the sub. "It looks like we're being chased down by several enemy ships."

((Xi - Really sorry I haven't been keeping up. I've been really busy lately and I haven't been doing well to follow my roleplays.))

"Oh damn!" Burst shouted, shocked and a little excited at the sudden commotion. "Apparently not much longer," Skyrat called back from the cockpit, answering V's question. Leatherhead stood from his seat up front and stomped through the sub. "Skyrat, take evasive actions. Shades, to the guns. Victor, activate the cloak," he commanded. Burst stood and ran to the cockpit, trying to get a view of the pursuers with the sub's scope.

"You know I can.." Kasumi whispered silently to V.

"No, no, let them deal with it." he replied.

Through the scope, Burst could see about eight small, sleek blue submarines, each with their cannons exposed. It looked like they were preparing to fire another volley of shots.

"We got snowmen on our tail!" Burst called to his comrads. By now the others were already in position, and their counterstrike had begun. Slowly the submarine disappeared into a murky cloud and faded from any possible detection. Within the submarine, V and the Daleth could feel a significant swaying as the vessel moved back and forth. The enemy ship were quickly bombarded with blasts of formless energy from various directions. Leatherhead admired the teamwork of those before him with a sigh of pride. "Save your strength," he said quietly to Kasumi, "We can handle the pursuers on our own, and you will need all of your energy once we reach the island."

"I'm impressed." V said, "You handled those guys quite nicely."

With a grin Leatherhead replied, "There is little we cannot accomplish when we work together with such synergy." Burst returned from the cockpit and added, "You're damn right there's not. But this ain't over yet. Those subs are still on our tail." Leatherhead then returned to the cockpit to assist Skyrat. "Their armour is tough," the pidgeon explained, "It'll be a while before our weapons do any serious damage, but we can still hold them off easily."

As if on que, the subs fired several volleys of energy blasts fro their cannons towards the submarine.

The Cleaners' sub was struck a few times, but they faded into the murky waters once more and continued their evasive maneuvers.

Suddenly, more subs appeared in front of the Cleaner's sub and they too fired several volleys of enegry bolts at them.

"Enough of this," V said. his eyes briefly flashed bright green, and suddenly the enemy submarines spontaneously exploded, and their energy blasts vanished. "Let's get a move on," he then said to Burst.

Burst paused for a moment, resisting the urge to snap at V. Before he could even say anything, Skyrat called back from the cockpit, "That interruption put us slightly off course, but we're approaching Demon Isle."

"That's good to hear," V said, and leaned back in his chair and relaxed.

Part 9B:
After a while of flying, both heroes and villains alike slowly approached the area where Demon's Isle should have been...

"If I remember correctly," Levi said, "Demon's Isle is a sunken island. The only visible part of it is a giant spire-like structure sticking out of the ocean."

"That shouldn't be too hard to find," Banzai said. His eyes then wandered off to a distant object. "Could that be it?"

Sure enough, Banzai did spot the tall needle-like structure, signifying they were approaching Demon's Isle.

"There it is...!" Gizmo said, leaning forward in his seat. "We made it..."

"Well that was easy," Kleft said sarcastically. Oddly, Levi suddenly stood rigid, and walked away from the group towards the back of the airship. It appeared that something strange had come over him.

Panzyr looked over at Levi, confused.

"Where are you going?" Inverse Inferna asked with a hint of worry.

"Levi? What's wrong?" Violet watched him pass by her, leaving her wondering what happened suddenly.

Smash walked back into the room, looking behind him. "What's with him?" He asked, pointing his thumb back towards Levi.

Meanwhile, The Cleaners and their passengers were also approaching the sunken island, although, due to them being under water, they had a much clearer view of the underwater mass. It looked exactly like Angel Island, only covered in various forms of aquatic plants and inhabited by countless fish.

"Looks like we've made it," V said. Suddenly, a look of faint surprise came over his face for a brief second, before returning to his regular stern face. "I had almost forgotten. I had a little surprise in store for my enemies."

"Excellent," Leatherhead commented, "With them distracted, the Harmonia Gemstone will surely be yours." Meanwhile Burst glared at the island, imagining the hoards of priceless artifacts to be had. "You gonna be able to keep your cool in there, boss?" Skyrat asked. Without even turning his attention, Burst replied, "'Course, dude. Plan before pleasure, always."

Suddenly, Levi turned around and faced the heroes. His eyes were glowing bright neon green, and his face was twisted into a draconic snarl.

"Hey, hey! Levi, what's up?" Kleft asked, taken aback by Levi's sudden change in mood. Then he noticed his eyes. "No. It....it can't be!"

Smash whirled around to look at Levi and gasped. "W-what the...Levi...!?"

Levi's hands started to glow, and then quickly threw his arms together, forming an x-shape in front of him. Loud groans and creaks were heard all over the airship. At the moment, it appeared that Levi had betrayed the group and was now using his technokinesis to take apart the ship.

"Stupid fool!! What do you think you are doing?!" Panzyr roared. He leapt at Levi, teeth bared.

Gizmo, startled, looked over his seat and gasped. "W-What's going on!? What're you doing!?"

Levi definitely wasn't himself. He didn't even make a move to avoid Panzyr. The rumbling grew louder as the ship's insides were being deformed.

Inverse Inferna instinctively latched onto Tendril's arm for support while Tendril, in the interest of not letting his friend fall, did nothing to remove her from his arm. Instead, he simply offered his other arm to Inferna, who grabbed it without a second thought.

The beast pounced upon Levi, roaring. At the last moment Levi seemed to notice Panzyr, and brought his arms up in front of him to shield himself as Panzyr pushed him to the ground. Smash and Violet rushed over to them, as Panzyr snapped his jaws at Levi's throat, roaring.

An alarm blared throughout the entire ship, the regular lights switching to red. "Shoot!" Gizmo began typing on a keyboard, trying to enable the automatic repair system.

"Panzyr, stop it!" Gideon yelled, running over and trying to push his feral friend off of Levi.

Unable to help them himself with two girls clinging to his arms, Tendril glanced down at the ground at his feet. "Shadow, help them out!" he called out. Immediately, his shadow rose up off of the ground, nodded once, and ran over to help.

A large piece of metal suddenly burst from the ground behind Levi, and was flung towards Panzyr in an attempt to get him off of Levi.

Before it could strike, Smash quickly smacked it to the side, knocking it against the wall. "Levi! Snap out of it!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Everyone on the ship was beginning to panic. All the chao were flying all over the place, trying to keep everything together, one of them even going so far as to duct tape the walls so that it wouldn't collapse. Kitty was frantically trying to maintain the problem alongside Gizmo, both of them sweating bullets. Pearl frantically rushed back out onto the deck, "What's going on!? Are we under attack!?"

"Levi's gone berserk!" Banzai yelled as he rushed to help the others.

"He hasn't gone berserk ya idiot! He's under V's control!" Kleft yelled as he attempted to pry Panzyr off of Levi.

"How do we help him?" Beat asked, frantic.

"Get Wes!" Kleft shouted. "I saw him go into one of the lower areas of the ship!"

"And Hurry!" Gizmo added, "I don't know how much more the ship can take!"

"I-I'm on it!" Pearl rushed back out, heading down below to find Wes. Amber quickly followed after her, along with Crystal.

"I'll come with you!" Amber called out.

Wes was brooding and laying low in one of the rooms below deck. He seemed to be very upset with not being able to fight, and also a bit confused and overwhelmed over finding out his connection with V. He ignored the groaning noises coming from the ship, assuming them to be common mechanical noises.

"Wes! Wes, where are you!?" Pearl cried out. "We need you on the deck, it's an emergency!"

"S-Something's wrong with Levi!" Crystal added, hoping that he could hear her. They soon found him in one of the rooms. "Wes, we need your help!" She pleaded, nearly in tears from the tension.

((Sorry about the long absence. I was away on a trip. Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 06:15, December 19, 2011 (UTC)))

For a second, Wes was shocked by the girls' sudden appearance and the news. The look on their faces was what made him realise the gravity of the situation, and realize what the groaning noises truly were. Without a word he ran outside the room and then teleported in a purple-white flash.

Out on the deck, the others were still trying to subdue Levi without hurting him. Wes suddenly appeared on the scene next to Kleft. "Wes! Levi's been taken over by V! Please tell me you can do something about this!" Kleft yelled.

Wes looked down at his hands, and they began glowing with a purple aura. "Um...I don't.....I can try," he muttered, barely audible. He ran over to Levi, who was being held down by Panzyr. He knelt down, and placed one hand over Levi's thrashing forehead. Wes closed his eyes and concentrated, as he let his power flow into Levi. The purple aura around his hands spread over and surrounded Levi's body. After a few seconds, which felt like a lifetime to Wes, Levi stopped thrashing, and relaxed into a comatose state.

"Did it work?" Banzai asked.

"I think so," Wes replied, carefully removing his hand from Levi's head.

Smash stood up from Levi, letting out a sigh of relief. "Should've known something else would happen before we actually get there." He grumbled. He shot a glare towards Panzyr, "And you weren't making it any better."

Panzyr was snorting and panting hard. He had thankfully not managed to do serious harm to Levi. "Maybe you should keep that guy on a leash," Banzai joked to Gideon.

"I'll take that into consideration," said the gunman moose, glaring at Panzyr. The beast only snorted.

"Is he okay?" Beat asked worriedly.

"He should be," Wes said. "I just expelled V's influence from him. He should wake up, eventually."

"That's good to hear. Gizmo! What about the ship? Is it in good condition?" Kleft asked.

"Yeah, it sounded like Levi did a number on it," Banzai said.

Gizmo leaned back in his chair, sighing heavily. "Kitty, Violet, Status Report." He ordered. Violet looked at her computer, and stayed silent for a second. A large sweat drop began to roll down the side of her face.

"Uh...the computer here...it's broken." She said. Meanwhile, Kitty began to give a full report in his native language. Few people could understand him, but it was evident from the amount of duct tape on the walls, ceiling and floors, that the ship was in pretty bad shape.

"I see..." Gizmo responded, somewhat discouraged. "He says that the hull is completely jacked up; the walls are uneven and cracked, it's a wonder they held together through all of that. Some of our electronics and weapons have gone down, but thankfully our engines are remotely unscathed." He looked forward, out the window of the cockpit. "I can't imagine how it's going to last if we end up facing V..."

"We've just gotta hope it does," Kleft said.

....

As both vehicles slowly approached the undersea island, from both land and air, a loud rumbling sound could be heard coming from the direction of the land mass. It sounded like a massive earthquake, and the sea could be seen shaking vigorously, spawning large waves and bubbles.

The underwater vibrations were having an effect on the Cleaners' submarine. They rattled the vehicle like a baby's toy.

"Woah! What the hell's going on?" Burst shouted as he propped himself against the wall for balance. Leatherhead took a moment to regain his own and then called to Skyrat, "Activate the stabilizers, now!" In a panic Skyrat replied, "They're malfunctioning, there's nothing I can do." Leatherhead carefully ran over to the cockpit to assist Skyrat, but he too found that their efforts were futile. "Do something!" Burst yelled to V and the Daleth.

V's arms were extended and he was clearly stressed."I'm trying. Some kind of powerful force is being emitted from that landmass, and it's making it difficult to control this thing."

As the people inside the submarine struggled to keep their balance, something was happening to the island. Slowly, but visibly, it began to rise. It seemed to float towards the surface like a balloon.

...

"Wait, what?" Banzai said, startled. "Am I seeing things, or is that thing getting taller?"

Sure enough, the tall needle-like structure that showed the location of Demon's Isle was slowly getting taller, as the sea below literally bubbled with excitement.

"Not just you, I see it too!" Splice said, his face and hands planted on the window. By now everyone was looking out the windows.

Gizmo leaned forward in his seat, his eyes widening as he realized what he was seeing. "Incredible...It's not getting taller, It's rising from the ocean...!"

Smash looked more concerned than amazed. "Okay, but what does that mean? Is it supposed to be doing that?" He asked, uneasily.

"Well, considering the fact that we're after a mystical floating gemstone that hangs over an undersea island, this might actually be the norm," Beat said.

Smash's face softened a bit. "I suppose you could be right. Not like we're from this area, anyway." He remarked. "Still, I'm staying alert. After that whole thing with Levi, we can't afford to let our guard down."

After a few minutes much of the island had risen out of the water. From the airship, the heroes could see that the geography of the island was similar to that of Angel Island, only completely devoid of any plantlife. The island was a vast, rocky wasteland, covered in craters and large needle-like hills.

"Maybe we should land soon," Kleft suggested. "I don't like the sounds coming from the ship." Although slightly muted, the airship was still moaning and groaning from the damage Levi had caused.

Gizmo nodded. "Yeah, me neither." He said. "Alright, let's look for a good spot to land so we can get started on the repairs." He looked over at the others. "The chao and I can take care of the ship ourselves, so don't worry about us."

....

Meanwhile, below the surface...

One the island had stopped rising, so did the forces that battered the Cleaners' submarine.

"Well, now that that's over, we should look for some place to surface," V said to Burst.

Part 10: Battle for the Stone
The general layout of the island was almost exactly the same as Angel Island, only completely devoid of any plant life. The island was a massive rocky wasteland, with a large mountain range in it's center, and the rest of the landscape dotted with huge craters, large needle-like spires of rock and deep cracks running through the surface. In the center of the island was a giant spire of rock, the one that was seen sticking out of the water from before. Just above the spire was a tiny glowing speck of purple: The Harmonia Gemstone. Along the edge of the island was relatively flat and featureless, a good place for Gizmo to land the airship or for the Cleaners to surface.

The high-tech submarine docked in a small lake at the edge of the island. Burst impatiently pushed his way through the door, followed by Leatherhead leading V and the Daleth up the strangely built exit. "If memory serves, there should be a series of ancient mechanisms at the base of the spire," he explained. Burst suddenly slowed his pace, and stepped back as if to join the conversation. "With our knowledge and your power, they should be a significantly minor obstacle to your goal."

"They shouldn't be any problem," V replied, then turned to look to the West, where Gizmo's airship should be. "The only major hindrance to our operation is over there."

"Would you like us to distract them?" Kasumi asked. "They barely stood a chance against us on Mobius."

"No," V said, "I will take care of them. I have something in mind, and there's someone who I'd like to see again. You three, stick with these guys, and make sure they don't do anything funny." He looked Burst right in the eye. "Something about you doesn't sit well with me." With that he vanished in a neo green flash of light.

((Xi - Lol, was anybody else reminded of Snake's Sonic codec from SSBB?))

Burst paused for a moment, then proceeded to stick his tongue out at the nothingness V left behind. "Let's get moving," Leatherhead strongly suggested, "The island is very enigmatic. It may submerge again if we take too long." He started off in the direction of the Spire, the other Cleaners and the Daleth following closely behind.

"When we get to the spire, we need to wait for Lord V," Soshiro said. "His powers are needed."

"In the meantime,we should be careful while moving. None of us know what can happen on this island, and I'm sure there are ancient defences present to defend the stone," Kasumi said. He reached inside his cloak, and pulled out a small canister of water he carried around. He opened it, and the water floated out of it and formed into a circular mass. The mass of water rose above the group and moved a considerable distance in front of them. "There. That should solve our travelling problem," Kasumi stated, his eyes now closed. "Using that, I can see what's up ahead as we move forward."

As the villains continued, Burst paced his way over to Leatherhead's side. The gator gave a nodded, leaving both Burst and Victor to stray from the main path. Leathead chuckled, knowing exactly what the Daleth would be thinking, and said, "They are only going off to loot the ruins, as our deal suggested."

Gizmo's airship had landed safely in a little clearing. The groans of the ship had slowly halted as the ship powered down. Gizmo let out a small sigh of relief. "Okay guys, I'll handle the repairs and everything." He said, standing up from his seat. "I guess a few of you could stay and help, but we need people to stop V's group from reaching the stone."

"Can't believe that the ship was being held together by duct tape all this time..." Smash muttered aloud, looking at all the seemingly random lines of tape along the walls, ceiling and floors. Gizmo glanced at him with a sweat drop rolling down the side of his face.

Levi, who was standing in the entrance to the ship, merely bowed his head in shame. "Once again, sorry about that..."

"Duct tape solves everything." Splice joked. "Anyway, Who all is going out?"

"I'll go," Tendril volunteered. Inferna and Inverse Inferna both agreed to go out with him. Tsunami, however, slowly shook her head. "I'm staying on the ship for a bit," she said, "I just get this.....feeling that something's going to happen here soon...."

"I should stay here to. Just in case V's influence isn't completely gone yet," Levi said, "and besides, someone needs to watch Wes, to make sure he doesn't do aything stupid."

Smash nodded. "I agree. It'd be very unwise to leave the ship defenseless, so we should have some of the stronger guys stay too." He gave Tsunami a quick glance at the last statement, before looking back at everyone else. "Speaking of which, Any way of knowing if V's already here or not?"

Gizmo shook his head. "Nothing I can do about it, unfortunately." He said. "Once we get the ship fixed up, maybe, but by then it won't even matter..."

"I can stay here and help guard the ship," said Gideon.

Tsunami turned to Smash and replied, "Their submarine surfaced nearby just a few minutes ago. I cannot sense any blood inside, so it's safe to assume they're already on the island."

"They're heading for the center," Wes said, suddenly appearing near the entrance to the airship. "I can sense him." He looked rather dismal, most likely from being forced to stay on the ship. Ciel appeared beside him, putting her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

Banzai jumped up, brimming with energy. "then I guess we should hurry up and get going! They've already gotten a head start!"

Paroi soon exited the ship as well. "Banzai's right. We need to get moving."

Smash glanced at the two and nodded. "Yeah, we can't afford to waste anymore time here, then."

Tendril and the two Infernas were right behind him. The latter two didn't seem too thrilled about facing the Street Cleaners and the Daleth again, especially not Inferna, who had seen what the Daleth could do, and knew that her fiance's counterpart was a member of the Cleaners.

Kleft stood at the head of the group, waiting for the others to organize themselves. "So, are we all ready to go?" he asked. Seeing that the group was prepared, he went over the objective. "What we need to do is get to the center of the island. There we should find the Harmonia Gemstone. Once we get there...wait, what do we do when we get there?"

"We use this," Levi said, tossing his APD to Kleft. He was holding on to the side of the doorway, exhausted from recent events. "Once you get close enough to the stone, store a sample of its power inside there. Bring the stone back here, and Paroi will use his magic and Ciel's abilities to get us out of here."

"You can do that?" Beat asked, surprised.

"Assuming I have enough energy, yes. While healing her, I managed to get a little insight on how her powers work."

"Remember guys, V is also after that stone," Levi said. "Be careful. There's also some sort of barrier around the stone, protecting it. How you get past that, well, I'm leaving that up to you."

"Really? That's all you've got?" Banzai asked. "So we're supposed to beat against the shield till it goes down?"

"We can deal with that once we get there," Kleft interjected, "right now we need to go!"

"Wait." Gizmo said. "I think I have just the thing." He stood up and ran from the room. In a few moments, he returned holding a small device. "I trust you remember this little thing?" He asked as he dropped it into Splice's hand. Splice looked down at it, raising both eyebrows.

"Isn't this that thing..er, I forgot." He said, sheepishly.

"Got no time to really explain." Gizmo said, hurriedly. "It's the Force Phaser. Try using it against the force field, it should help take it down in theory."

Splice nodded. "Right, thanks." He turned and rushed out to catch up with the others, who were about to leave the ship.

Meanwhile, high above the area where Gizmo's ship was, V floated and observed the heroes movements. L''ooks like they're organizing themselves to get moving. But where is he''? V awoke his thoughts once he realized the heroes were departing.

......

After a short while of treking, the heroes found themselves in a vast, rocky wasteland. There were large craters all over, with tall, rocky spires dotting the landscape.

Smash, Splice, Kyle, and Silver were amongst the group that headed out. Smash looked around the area, feeling rather uneasy.

"There's a lotta holes around here," Splice said, frowning a bit. "Watch your step, guys."

"And your backs." Smash added, still looking around.

Unknown to them, the Cleaners and the Daleth were also making their way to the center of the island at the same pace. After several minutes of walking, the group was forced to descend into an expansive crater, the size of a large lake, as moving around it would've taken too long.

"Watch your step," Kleft said as he expertly trudged down into the massive crater with ease. Banzai didn't have much trouble either, but Beat was having some difficulty, tripping almost every third step.

From their current position, if they looked close enough, they could see a few miniscule specs moving to their left. These specs were actually the Cleaners and the Daleth, who had also entered the massive crater for the same reason. Thankfully, despite their proximity to eachother, the two groups were not be able to see eachother....yet...

"So......how's everyone doing?" Banzai asked no one in particular, desparate to break the uncomfortable silence.

"We're trapped in an alternate universe with a maniacal tyrant and his psychotic henchmen, travelling on an island that may sink at any moment with said psychopaths on the same island. How do you think we're doing?" Beat said, more bitterly than intended.

"That was a little harsh," Banzai said.

"He's got a point though," Kleft said, "There's a possibility that V's guys are already here. We should come up with a plan on what to do in case we run into them."

((Beat's won the award for "Best line of the chapter." ~Smash The Echidna~ http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100421224452/sonicfanon/images/0/04/Smash_life.png 23:29, January 12, 2012 (UTC)))

((Lol :) Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 00:19, January 13, 2012 (UTC)))

"Yeah. And I've gotta hunch that we'll be running into them whether we like it or not." Smash added. "We can't really afford to waste time fighting them, either. It's quite possible that one of them would split up to go after the Harmonia Gemstone without us all."

"Ugh, that'd be disa-" Splice suddenly slipped while climbing down a rocky slope, and yelped as part of the ground underneath his foot broke away. He slid down a few inches before he managed to catch himself. "...Shutting up, now."

"Still, We should probably have some kinda battle plan." Smash said.

"I agree," Beat replied. "Let's see, considering--Gah!" Beat tripped once again, accidentally stepping on some loose stone. "That's it! I've had enough of this!" He made a small jump, and generated a small energy disk below him to ride on. "Anyone else need a lift?" he asked.

"Heck yeah I need a lift!" Splice exclaimed before jumping onto the disk.

"Good idea," Kleft said, "that should help us get there faster, but keep low to the ground. Don't want the bad guys to see us."

"Indeed." Silver agreed as he boarded the disk with the others. "Speaking of which, we should keep an eye out for them. With a crater this massive, it's possible that they're somewhere here, too."

"Good point," Banzai said, right seeing movement in the corner of his eye.

"All right, back to planning," Beat said as they hovered above the ground on a large energy disk. "As I was saying before, let's assume that only the three of V's guys that were in the desert when this all started are on the island."

"The water guy, the plant girl and the guy who can grow and cast spells," Kleft said.

"Hey, weren't you making progress with the girl?" Banzai asked Splice, "You know, before she cheated?"

Silver turned away in shame, remembering how ineffective he was in that battle.

"Oh yeah, I was!" Splice said, raising both eyebrows. "I really coulda had her, huh? But that Soshiro guy just had to butt in..."

"Then that's one thing we should do; Keep Soshiro from casting those spells." Smash declared. "If we can hold him back, then we can at least take out Plant Woman."

"If you keep him focused on physical attacks, that should prevent him from boosting his partners. It takes him a few moments to successsfully cast a spell," Paroi said. "You, Smash, Silver and the other physical fighters of our group should focus on him. However, the water-user...he's a tough one."

"Yeah, especially considering we're on an island, surrounded by water," Beat said, "Especiall considering how good he was back in the desert."

"Yes, but he was fored to use himself as a water source, which depleted his energy greatly," Paroi said. Banzai gave him a 'how do you know that?' look, to which he replied: "I was observing our enemies in that last battle. They're strong, but have their weaknesses."

"Okay so..." Smash folded his arms, "Splice can take the girl by himself. Silver and I, and maybe someone else will go after Soshiro. But the water user..." He closed his eyes. "Well...I'm not really sure how exactly we can beat him now. I mean, we're surrounded by water now, as opposed to being in a dry old desert."

"I will hold him off the best I can." Kyle said. "But I do not believe that I can defeat him..."

"Hey wait, Kyle." Splice said, holding his finger up as he recalled the events of the desert battle. "You were casting some kinda lightning spell on him, weren't you? Right before V showed up and stopped it. Lightning and Water don't go together, so...Do you think that'd work on him?" He directed the question towards everyone else on the disk.

"I think it will," Beat replied, "Especially if he turns himself into water like he did last time."

"All right. But if we do get into battle, we should send one or two of us ahead to retrieve the stone," Kleft suggested, "y'know, in case we..." He didn't want to finish his sentence.

Splice pulled out the small mechanical object he recieved from Gizmo from his pocket. "I think I should probably go, but..."

"We'll decide who when the time comes." Smash said. "Hopefully it won't come to that. But in anycase, I think we have a sufficient battle plan down, now."

.......

"Goddamit!!" Ibara swore as she tripped for the umpteenth time.

"Watch your step. The ground's uneven," Soshiro said, with a bit of sarcasm.

"I hadn't noticed!" Ibara snapped back. "Shut up you two," Kasumi barked, focusing on looking ahead using his water orb.

"Sheesh, sorry." Ibara said. 'By the way, you gonna do anything about those two guys?"

"Why? They shouldn't be any trouble to us. But, just in case, I'm tracking them using a small sample of water on Burst's sock."

((Xi - Burst left with Victor a while ago.))

((Shoot sorry. Slip up on my part :P Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 00:31, January 13, 2012 (UTC)))

Leatherhead chuckled and said, "I find your distrust in my comrads amusing. Whether or not they decided to doublecross, do you really think they would accomplish anything?"

"You can never be too safe," Kasumi replied. "Especially when a stranger from another world offers you help." He said the last part softly, almost as if in memory of something. A light flickered in the corner of his eye. When he turned to look, he saw nothing. "Ibara, scan over there."

"Huh? Why?" She asked.

"Just do it!" Kasumi snapped. "Okay, okay. Sheesh." Ibara bent down to the ground and put her hand on the hard ground. SHe dug her fingers hard into the earth, and five green vines extended from her fingertips.

Not too far behind the heroes, a tiny weed sprouted from the rocky earth. "It looks like.....those guys we fought back in the desert."

"I thought so," Kasumi said, "I recognized the colour of that cat's energy."

"What do we do?" Soshiro said.

Kasumi turned to the Cleaners. "Can any of you fight?" he asked.

"Of course we can," Skyrat answered, "These guys are chumps, they can't touch us."

"Good to hear," Kasumi said. "Ibara, Soshiro, go with.....sorry, what's your name again?"

"It's Skyrat, and I'm way ahead of you," he replied before taking off into the air. Leatherhead merely sighed and said to his last remaining comrad, "Shades, follow. He cannot take them alone." With that, the other two Cleaners headed off in the direction of the heroes as well.

....

"Hey, can I ask you guys something?" Beat said to the group.

"What's up?" Splice asked. Smash just nodded as he kept a close eye on their surroundings.

"Is there something wrong?" Kyle asked, sitting cross-legged near the center of the flying disk.

"Nothing, really. I was just feeling a bit homesick. It seems like forever since we've last seen Mobius, I mean, the way it's supposed to be. Everytime I think about the busy Station Square, I can't help it. I think that's what I miss most about Mobius. What about you guys?"

Splice frowned a bit. "Yeah, I know what you mean." He sighed. "I already miss the carefree days we'd have back in Green Flower city." He looked up at the sky, "I mean, I like adventuring and all. Nothing beats a little excitement in your life, I think. But this is more like...Survival."

"Indeed." Kyle agreed. "When even the heroes one could look up to begin to fall into despair..." He shook his head, remembering how terrified everyone back in his village were at how quickly their world fell.

Smash grunted, turning his head away with a pained look of regret. "...I feel more than just "Homesick"..."

Panzyr simply ignored the others, keeping an eye out for V's forces.

"Huh, and here I was thinking this island was completely barren," Banzai said, randomly.

"What are you talking about?" Beat asked.

"Look, there's a tree up ahead, although it looks like it's growing at an odd angle..."

Banzai was right; There was a tree sprouting from the ground some distance in front of them, however, it wasn't there a moment ago...

"Wait a second..." Beat thought.

Smash leaned in closer, squinting his eyes at the tree.

Suddenly, several vines shot out from the ground below them, sending rocky debris flying into the air.

"Yow! Look out!!" Splice cried out. Smash, Kyle and Silver all held on tight, as the debris banged against the underside of the disk. Looking closer, Splice noticed something eerily familiar about those vines. His eyes widened as he gradually came to realize what they were.

Inverse Inferna instinctively latched onto Tendril's arm again to steady herself, while Inferna sliced at the vines with a blade of fire.

"Looks like we're running into them sooner than expected!" Beat said. "Look out everyone, I'm destroying the disk." As soon as he said it, the disk broke into several shards, and the heroes landed on the ground, ready for combat.

A few feet in front of them, a large, pink flower sprouted from the ground. As it's petals opened, it revealed Ibara and a regular sized Soshiro. "Going somewhere?" Ibara asked casually.

"ACK! It's Plant Woman!!" Splice cried out, seemingly in shock. His shocked expression twisted into a grin. "Perfect. Now we can settle the score."

"Don' get coky, little boy," she said, condescendingly.

Smash narrowed his eyes at the two. "I was expecting more of you." He said, bluntly. ''This isn't good. It's just as I feared...'' He thought.

Banzai got into a fighting stance and started bouncing in place, full of energy. A faint glow illuminated Paroi's body; he was building magical power.

Kyle drew his sword the moment his feet touched the ground. The Gemblade's glow illuminated the area around them. Silver swung his spear off of his back, and got into a battle stance.

"It's time for round 2!" Ibara yelled, raising her hands above her head and crossing them together. Several vines shot out of the ground, each one covered hundreds of sharp thorns. They coiled and twisted, each one heading onto the heroes, aiming to skewer them.

Splice quickly twirled and dodged out of range of each vine. He was the first to dash towards Ibara, quickly drawing a couple of daggers from his pockets.

Smash completely dove out of the way from all of them. He took notice of Splice closing in the distance between him and Ibara, and made his way towards Soshiro. "Silver, Follow me! Kyle, Go with Splice!"

"Right." Silver followed behind Smash, while Kyle rushed to assist Splice. Both dodged and slashed at any vine that came too close to them.

"I'm coming after you boy!" Ibara shouted as she fired a large spear of vines toward Splice. The vines were covered in bright red flowers and sharp thorns.

Splice's hands were surrounded by an icy aura. As she fired the vines, he fired a blast of icy fog in front of him. The ground between them began to freeze, as did the spear. It also clouded her vision of him. He then slid under the oncoming spear, using the newly forming ice on the ground to his advantage.

"Not so fast, little boy," Ibara said, winking at him. The flowers sprouting on the vine plopped off one by one, sizzling. As they hit the ice, it began to melt into a large puddle. Suddenly, without warning, each of the flowers exploded in small yet powerful blasts.

Splice swung himself off the melting Ice, just before the flowers began to explode. The explosions never reached him, though. Kyle stood right behind Splice, surrounded by a rainbow barrier, using all 6 elements of the Gemblade. "I have your back covered, my friend." He reassured, as he let down the barrier.

Splice nodded, and continued towards Ibara. Now only a couple feet away from her, he went for a physical attack, aiming to punch her in the face. His free hand was still brimming with an icy aura. Ibara responded by jumping back a few feet, raising her hand to her face, and blowing a bunch of multicoloured flowers, which materialized in her, hand towards Splice.

Splice thrust his palm out towards the flowers, shooting several icicles towards the flowers to stop them in their tracks.

Inverse Inferna retreated behind a rock to watch the fight, while Tendril and Inferna both charged at Ibara. Inferna surrounded her arms in fire, while Tendril began charging up a sphere of Dark Lightning in one hand.

Small red flowers sprouted just below Inferna, and literally sucked the flames from her arms. "Thank you for the energy," Ibara said, and winked at her. Meanwhile, more vines sprouted from the earth, covered in throns and flowers, and shot out towards Tendril.

Small bits of metal came up out of the stone around them and attached to Tendril's free hand, turning it into a blade. He swung at the vines that came too close, slicing them apart.

Splice leaped into the air, and thrust himself down towards Ibara with a spindash. His body quickly became enveloped in an icy aura. Kyle charged towards her, holding his sword out behind him as he prepared to attack.

Ibara extended her hand towards the two, and a large, fiery red and yellow flower sprouted from her hand. Almost as soon as it apeared, it expelled a burt of flames at the two, simlutaneously pushing ibara away from them.

Kyle held his sword out in front of him, with the tip facing the flames. He continued charging forward as the flames began to disappear into the blade. Splice ended up landing on the ground in between the two, as Ibara moved out of the way. He stood up and ran to the side of the flames, the only effect they had on him was cancelling out his ice power he was charging.

Inferna ran over to help Kyle absorb the flames, while Tendril raced at Ibara from the other side, aiming the Dark Lightning at her.

Ibara turned to look at Tendril, but then remembered Splice's incoming attack. In an act of desparation, she encased herself in a cucoon of strong vines, covered in thorns. As soon as they appered, the thorns extended themselves a considerable distance, damaging anyone close enough.

Splice yelped as he instinctively threw himself out of the way. A couple of the sharp spikes cut him before he could fully escape. Kyle stopped dead in his tracks, as the thorns stopped only inches in front of him. He spun his sword around a few times, and stopped it with the tip facing the sky. "O Gem of Ice, Lend me thy power..." He spoke softly. The cyan gem on the handle of the blade glowed in response.

Splice quickly regained his footing and looked at the coccoon, wondering exactly how to approach her now. He began firing a few sharp icicles towards it, just to test how thick and resistant it was.

The icicles embedded themselves into the cucoon, but it still stood strong.

"Watch it!" Banzai yelled, running up behind Splice and standing between him and Ibara, who had silently sprouted up behind him and was raising her arm to swat Splice away. Banzai raised his staff and blocked her strike, surprising her.

Splice's eyes widened in shock, he slowly turned around to see both Banzai and Ibara directly behind him. "T-thanks."

Kyle noticed Ibara changing locations, and turned to face her as he cast his spell. "May the merciless embrace of frost take you. Arctic Bind!" He spun around as he swung his sword this time, and several icicles shot up from the ground below Ibara. Splice pulled Banzai back as soon as he heard him cast it. The icicles struck at her as they rose into the air, soon falling back down on top of her, which would leave her covered in ice. A large icicle gradually began to form over her in the process. Ibara struggled as much as she could, but the combined effects of the ice and the damage she took impaired her strength. "Why you little..." she silently cursed.

Splice grinned, knowing that he could take the upper hand if he was quick. He quickly whipped out both of his daggers, and began to slash and kick her in a seemingly endless and fancy twirling attack, occasionally tossing his knives into the air as he whirled around to deal another kick, only to catch them afterwards just in time for another slash. However, none of his attacks drew any blood, nor seemed to cause Ibara any pain. She grinned malevolently, as her body faded to brown, reavealing her to be nothing more than a wooden sculpture, covered in large, explosive flowers.

Just as he was finishing his attack was when he noticed what had happened. "Uh oh." One of his daggers had just cut one of the flowers, soon causing it to blow up in his face. Splice was blown back several feet, tumbling backwards across the rocky ground. The collision with the ground hurt him more than the actual explosion. He managed to stop himself, now in a kneeling position. He quickly stood up and looked around for Ibara, as Kyle rushed to his aid. She sprouted from the ground a few feet in front of Splice, emerging from a large rose. She brought her hand to her face, and a purple lilly-looking flower appeared in her hand. She blew on it, and a cloud of purplish gas flew outwards towards Splice and Kyle.

In a sudden blast of power, Inferna's fur changed colors. Her usual scarlet coloring was replaced by a dark grey, and her orange streaks became a much lighter grey, while her yellow eyes turned purple. She thrust her hand out at the violet cloud sent by Ibara, and the air responded by kicking up a wind to blow it back at its creator.

Ibara was surprised at the sudden turn of events, and reacted by quickly retreating into a thorned cuccoon once more and sank into the earth. A few feet away, a large tree sprouted out from the ground. It grew and grew, until it was as tall as Soshiro, it's brightly coloured foliage covered the fighters in a large shadow. Ibara appeared at the treetop, looking down on the heroes.

Tendril, who had long-since shut off his dark lightning to conserve energy, knelt down and touched a hand to the ground. The shadows seemed to darken around him as he used the shadow cast by Ibara's tree to recharge lost energy.

Splice and Kyle looked up at the large tree, both weary of getting too close to it. "Kyle, Let's freeze it and cut it down." Splice suggested, "Take her down with it!"

Kyle nodded, and held his sword back in position. Splice put his daggers away, and took out a strangely cyan colored elemental ring. When he put it on his wrist, it glowed softly. His gloves began to glow, seemingly in response. He held his hands out beside him, and began charging up a powerful ice attack. At the same time, Kyle began to chant softly, preparing his own attack. "Gem of Ice, lend me thy power..."

"Not so fast guys!" Ibara shouted, seeing her enemies preparing to attack. She waved her hand, and, suddenly, every single leaf, flower and seed on the tree rained down on the heroes like a shower of arrows. The leaves themselves were razor sharp and durable, while the wide variety of coloured flowers produced different effects. The seeds were unaturally heavy, easily able to crack a skull if one wasn't careful.

"Gem of Wind, lend me thy power!" Kyle quickly added to his spell. Splice thrust both of his hands forward, expelling a blast of cold air towards the tree. It blew away most of the flowers and leaves heading towards them, and was beginning to freeze them all. "Inferna, Back us up here!" He called out, worried that Kyle wouldn't be finished in time.

Inferna sent out a gust of wind in all directions, just strong enough to protect herself and her allies from the shower of foliage.

While Inferna was distracted with protecting the others, she heard a large thump behind her. Is wasn't one of the falling seeds, though. It was larger, and it brought with it the sound of cracking knuckles.

As the flowers fell landed on the ground, they latched themselves to the ground, grew stems, and started firing concentrated blasts of energy at the fighters, like mini-laser cannons. This happened with each flower that hit the ground. When the seeds hit the ground, they immediately sprouted into massive, writhing vines, topped with hundreds of poisoned thorns and covered in dangerous flowers. As more seeds hit the ground, the figters found themselves surrounded by a wall of thick, tentacle-like vines, which lashed out aand attacked them like whips.

Tendril, who had stepped out of the shadow of the tree while Ibara was focusing on the others, had just finished absorbing light from the surrounding area, allowing him to enter Twilight Form. He dashed forward at high speed and, using the photokinesis that comes with Twilight Form, deflected the lasers away from the others. Inferna glanced back at the sound behind her.

Behind Inferna was Skyrat, seemingly towering over her at such a close range. "Heh, surprise," he said playfully, before dealing a powerful backhand to Inferna.

"Huh, that didn't work," Ibara said. She sad down comfortably on onfe of the tree branches, one leg crossed over the other. "So, fire doesn't work, lasers don't work and air doesn't work. What to do..." she put her finger to her chin as she wighed her options. Suddenly, an evil look came in her eye. She snapped her fingers, and the ring of writhing, thick, thorny vines encircling the fighters responded by growing in height, until the vines were as tall as the tree Ibara was on. "Let's see how you handle my next move," she shouted fro mthe top of the tree.

Taken by surprise, Inferna was unable to avoid the attack, and was sent flying a few feet. She quickly got back up to her feet and breathed a jet of thick, black smoke at Skyrat.

Skyrat leaped into the air to avoid the smoke, with a smug look on his face as he flapped to hold himself aloft. Suddenly, from the ground beneath Inferna came the materializing form of Shades, dealing an uppercut to her jaw.

This time, Tendril appeared beside Inferna, blocking Shades' attack just in time. However, the second he entered the shadow of Ibara's tree, the glowing of his streaks dimmed noticeably. "Freezing winds, Speak of forgotten truths..! Ice Tornado!" Kyle rose his sword above his head, as a large, freezing whirlwind of ice surrounded the group of heroes. They were not affected much, aside from feeling colder. The whirlwind increasingly grew larger and stronger, threatening to freeze and tear apart the vines with shards of ice. Splice did all he could to add onto the attack, wanting to make sure that they get out of this trap as soon as possible.

Kyle and Splice succeeded in doing some damage to the vines, however, they still stood strong, due to their thickness. The opening at the top of the wall of vines was slowl closing up as the vines inched towards the center, trapping them inside a spiky cuccoon and covering the heroes in shadow. "Go to sleep," Ibara whispered to herself and exhaled a dangerous looking pink gas at the vine cuccoon. It reacted by sprouting several flowers over its interior, all of which expelled the same pink gas. If inhaled, the fighters would find themselves growing drowsy and weaker, losing the will to fight.

Inferna caused the air around the grow to blow in an attempt to keep the gas at bay as long as possible. Meanwhile, Tendril began firing spheres of light, shadow, and twilight at the vine cuccoon, trying to break through. the twilight blasts, being made of both light and shadow, naturally explode on impact as their two components repel one another outward. With each blast of light or twilight, Tendril's streaks fade slightly.

Skyrat and Shades were caught off guard by Ibara's attack, and took their attention from the heroes. "Shades, get us out of here!" Skyrat demanded. In response the mole grabbed onto Skyrat's wing, and the two disappeared into the ground below. They reappeared outside the coccoon, and Skyrat immediately flew up to Ibara and said, "What's your problem? We were still in there!"

"Well it's not my fault you didn't notice my trap," she snapped at him.

((Xi - Sorry for the confusion, but there is no hole. Shades has molecular powers. He deconstructed himself and Skyrat, then guided them through the soil. The heroes are still basically trapped.))

((Maaaaan. And the guy's a MOLE, too! >.<))

((Xi - Yeah... I should have been more clear. The Cleaners are all very... unique, in terms of their ablities.))

"It's no good! We're not gonna get anywhere like this!" Splice exclaimed. "It's weakening, but it's taking way too long."

"Perhaps we can tear through it, if we create an icicle large enough?" Kyle suggested, slightly shivering from how cold it was getting inside.

"It's all we got left." Splice stood behind Kyle, and the two began forming two large icicles, both facing the walls of the coccoon in front of them. Kyle had to end his first spell in order to do it, however. They stood back-to-back, hoping to create an icicle that would grow too big to fit inside and eventually puncture the vines.

A violet rose sprouted out from the palm of Ibara's hand. An identical rose lay inside of the vine cuccoon that trapped the heroes. using the rose in her hand, she could see what was going on inside her trap, and she didn't not like what she saw. "Stupid ice-users. Why can't you use something like fire or lightning? Something my flowers can absorb?" Ibara's flowers had the ability to absorb energy, and since cold is a lack of energy, there was little she could do to fight it. Ibara stood up on the branch and brought her hands high above her head. "Seeing as I've used up a lot of power between that desert war and now, I should finish this quickly." She thrust her arms down at angles, ending with them crossed against her torso. As soon as her motion finished, every thorn sprouting from the vines trapping the heroes shout out like a storm of needles from every direction. As soon as they left the vines, new thorns sprouted in place and fired again. Splice and Kyle were completely vulnerable to the thorns. They gritted their teeth and braced themselves for the pain as they kept expanding their icicles. "J-Just a little bit more!" Splice yelled.

"L-Lady Inferna!" Kyle called out, hoping that she would help them against the needles.

Inferna strengthened her gusts of wind keeping the gas at bay, so that it could push away the needles as well. Tendril, having had no access to light for so long, has reverted back to normal, unable to keep up the Twilight Form without a constant source of light.

"Oh for Pete's sake, can't you just die already?" Ibara cursed, stamping her foot on the branch in frustration. What worried her most was Splice and Kyle's escape attempt. The icicles were puncturing the sides of her cuccoon and threatened to destroy her trap, and she did not want to use fire to melt them, as it might give Inferna an advantage. To top it off, she couldn't even gas them, due to Inferna's wind powers. "It's no use. I just had to trap the most un-killable group of people I've ever faced." She hopped off her branch and fell to the ground. Then, she snapped her fingers, and the vines retreated into the ground, freeing the heroes. "Looks like I'll have to kill you another way," she said. {C "We're free!" Splice exclaimed, as the icicles the two of them held leaned towards the ground.

"Let us avoid getting caught like that next time." Kyle said through a sigh of relief.

"There won't BE a next time!" Splice swung the large icicle up over his head, and turned to charge right towards Ibara. The icicle slammed down behind him, and he dragged it along the way towards her. Kyle watched, ready to back him up should something happen.

Ibara charged right towards Splice as well, vines sprouting from the ground and swirling around her arm, encasing it in a large, thorny lance-like weapon. "I've just about had it with this multi-coloured rat," she said.

"Oh, is THAT how it is!?" Splice yelled back, angrily. Both of his arms were covered in an icy aura. "I'll make you eat those words!" Suddenly, he leaped up into the air, high above Ibara. Holding onto the gigantic icicle with both hands, he began to spindash in mid-air, with the icicle whirling around with him. With the size of the icicle, and how fast he was spinning, It was extremely dangerous for anyone to get anywhere near him. Splice then shot down towards Ibara at an alarming rate.

Kyle watched, and realized that he could do something to help Splice from where he was. Glancing down at his icicle, which lay on the ground near him, he stabbed his sword into the back of it. "Gem of Ice, lend me thy power..." He chanted. As he spoke softly to the sword, the icicle began to glow brightly, and crack. "O frozen blades, fly sharply across the heavens..." Soon, it shattered into several thick, but sharp shards of ice. The shards floated in mid-air, swirling around him. "Now Strike! Ice Slasher!" He quickly pointed his sword towards Ibara, as the icicles shot out towards her. Though they probably wouldn't hit until after Splice landed, they were yet another hazard heading her way.

"Perfect!" Ibara said. Suddenly, she sank into the ground, replaced by a large blue flower sprouting in her place. The flower bloomed open, petals wide, and it appeared that Splice was about to fall right into it.

Seeing the danger to his comrade, Tendril launched himself at Splice, speeding himself up by forming wings of shadow on his back. A flash of silver spread across his streaks as he held out his hand, using magnetism to catch Splice by the iron in his blood. Hopefully, the magnetism might be enough to stop him from hitting the flower. Fortunately, it was, causing Ibara to sprout up near the flower, a look of annoyance on her face. Splice felt himself getting pulled away, and stopped spinning. The moment he stopped, He launched the large icicle towards the flower. The icicle spun just as rapidly as before, and it was big enough to tear up the flower while crushing it at the same time. He turned to look at what was pulling him, and ended up reaching out to grab Tendril's hand. "Thanks."

Kyle could see that the icicles were not going to hit their target. With a swing of his blade, he created a gust of wind to direct them towards Ibara.

"Nice try, short stuff," Skyrat called out as he flew between Ibara and the icicles, batting them away with his wing. Kyle simply rose his eyebrow at the remark.

Soshiro crouched down and started building up energy. A faint red aura came over his body as he grew in size, to roughly 20 ft in height. He swung one huge arm at the incoming Smash, attempting to knock him away.

"Jump, Now!" Smash called out a warning to Silver, who was a few feet behind him. The two leaped above the arm, just barely making it over safely. Silver performed a flip just as he was moving over Soshiro's arm, slashing his spear against it in the process. The tip of the spear bounced off Soshiro's hard skin. Soshiro raised his other arm, and brought it down hard and fast, aiming to squash both Smash and Silver.

"Keep moving!" Smash instructed, just as the two landed. They both dove out of the way, now separated by the large arm. Smash jumped towards his leg and threw a hard punch towards it.

Soshiro raised his leg, and slammed it into the earth, hoping to crush Smash. At the same time, he clasped his hands together and closed his eyes. It looked as if he was preparing a spell of some sort.

Smash did the only thing he could do at this point; He released a blast of energy, as if powering up to his high tension state. The small explosion stopped him from getting any closer to Soshiro, and blew him back towards the ground. His energy quickly faded.

"Smash!" Silver called out, pointing up to Soshiro's hands. Smash nodded, and the two sprung up towards his gut, ready to unleash their attacks in unison.

Soshiro was forced to stop his spell and focus on his two attackers. He opened his mouth, and inhaled with powerful force. It was similar to the vortex he conjured back on Blussora, powerful enough to suck in parts of the earth.

Smash was startled as he felt himself getting pulled higher than he should have been. He and Silver looked up in horror as they realized that he was seemingly about to eat them. "Oh CRAAP! BEEAAT!!" Smash screamed. He attempted to do the same as before, using his energy to propel him away from Soshiro while grabbing onto Silver's tail; the only part of him he could reach at the moment.

A large blue disc shot out from nowhere, and flew right towards Soshiro's head. Soshiro stopped his vacuum attack just in time, managing to move his head back just enough to avoid the disc.

"Sorry I'm late guys," Beat said, running up next to Smash and Silver, who had just landed.

Smash shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if Beat weren't there. "No problem, let's just focus on taking him out. I need you to watch our backs, in case something ELSE happens."

Silver, rubbing his tail, looked back at Soshiro. "Don't let your guard down!" He told everyone else.

Soshiro took a deep breath, and exhaled a jet of flame at the heroes. Silver was the first to move out of the way. He rushed to the side of the flames, and searched for a way to strike him off guard.

Smash rolled to the other side, and began to close in the distance between him and his enemy. As smash came towards him, Soshiro aimed his fiery breath at Smash in an attempt to halt his progress.

Smash had to change directions and run to the side. He tried to keep moving towards him as he ran from the flames.

Taking advantage of Soshiro's attention towards Smash, Panzyr charged towards his heels, leaping up and manifesting a HellFyre Claw at the same time. He slashed at Soshiro's ankle.

Panzyr's attack was strong enough to pierce through his tough skin, creating a gash in his ankle. Soshiro merely winced in response.

At the same time, Silver sprung up towards his side, slashing as many times as he could before he fell to the ground. The spear left a few scratches on Soshiro's body, but didn't appear to cause much significant damage. Soshiro, however, was becoming frustrated. He was being attacked from all sides, and he wasn't getting a chance to cast any spells. Running out of options, he bent his legs, then jumped high into the air.

Silver landed on the ground and quickly moved out of the way. Smash stopped, and looked up at him. He took a few steps back, and coiled up his legs. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but he had a feeling that he might be able to use it to his advantage.

Panzyr looked up as well, looking at the wound he had inflicted on Soshiro. He flew up after him towards his feet, intent upon severing the Achilles tendons in his ankles.

Suddenly, Smash's wrist communicator began beeping. He tried not to take his eyes off of Soshiro, but he knew he couldn't ignore it if something else went wrong. He grunted, and flipped it open. On the tiny screen, he saw Kitty's face. "Kitty? What's going on?" He asked, looking right back at Soshiro.

Soshiro clasped his hands together, and started preparing another spell. From high up in the air, he hoped that he wouldn't be interrupted this time.

"Beat! Panzyr! Stop him!" Smash ordered. He heard Kitty yelling frantically into the communicator, but couldn't understand a word he was saying. "I'm kinda busy right now, Kitty! Where's Gizmo?"

Beat created a cyan energy disk in one hand, and threw it like a frisbee at Soshiro. Unfortunately, Soshiro noticed it, and exhaled a gust of wind from his mouth in one direction to propel himself out of harm's way. Seeing that Beat would be a nuisance, due to his projectiles, he focused on getting him out of the way. He turned to face him, shaking the earth with each step, and inhaled. Beat struggled against the suction force, and created two solid spikes of energy and jabbed them into the ground to prevent him from being sucked into Soshiro's mouth. "A little help here guys!?" he shouted to the others.

Silver ran to Beat and stuck his spear in the ground as well, using one hand to hang on and the other to support Beat. Meanwhile, Smash tried to listen and understand Kitty, but another com-link interrupted it and he lost the signal with Kitty. "Crap." He closed it back, and looked back up at Soshiro. He started to try to make his way around to his back-side, hoping to go unnoticed.

Panzyr had finally reached the giant Soshiro's wounded ankle once again. Generating another HellFyre claw, he began to hack and slash at the back of his ankle, aiming to sever the tendons inside.

Soshiro immediately stopped his attack and raised his foot out of Panzyr's way. He then slammed it back down in an attempt to crush him.

He skidded to a halt, eyes widening a bit. He jumped out of the way, barely avoiding Soshiro's giant foot.

Suddenly, Smash's communicator started up again. He opened it, expecting to see Kitty again. "Kitty! Are you the--guys?" It was then when he noticed that Kitty wasn't there, but instead Gizmo, Amber and all the chao on the ship were there. Except they were outside. "What's going on? W-why arent you at the ship?" He was getting extremely worried. And seeing that several people were missing was not helping. "And where's everyone else? Where's Pearl?"

"S-Smash..." Gizmo stammered. "V..Invaded the ship. It's in even worse condition than before, so our plans for escape might not work. But..we've got a bigger problem."

Smash's eyes widened with shock, as he realized what could have happened. "Y-you mean...?"

Gizmo nodded. "V and Wes...met...and are fighting. T-there's nothing we can do, now..."

"No..." Smash was so stunned, he nearly forgot what he was doing. Suddenly, a hand appeared on Smash's communicator. It was Paroi's. "Focus on the matter at hand," he said, nudging his head in Soshiro's direction, who was building up power for another spell. "I'll go to the ship and see what I can do." With that, he vanished in a brief flash.

Smash gritted his teeth, knowing that they were most likely fighting a losing battle, now. Whether it would even matter if they got to the Harmonia Gemstone at this point was dubious. "...This is our last stand, now." He said quietly. He looked up at Soshiro, "And anything this guy can dish out, is nothing compared to what's to come." With that, he sprinted towards him, ready to fight with everything he had.

Now. Soshiro raised his head, then brought it down and fired a massive blast of purplish energy at the heroes. The beam had a wide radius, and tore apart the ground as it headed in their direction. Smash leaped into the air, letting out a blast of energy as he transformed into his high tension state, flying right over the beam. He gritted his teeth as he made his way towards Soshiro, deliberately landing on and jumping from large chunks of the ground that were sent flying to progress.

Silver, on the other hand, wasn't sure if he could make that jump. "Beat, We need to take cover!" He exclaimed.

"Not sure I can block that," Beat said, instead creating a ball of energy between them, and enlarged it to push them both out of the way. The beam blasted through the ball, shattering it into shards of enegry. Beat acted quickly and redirected the shards to fly towards Soshiro. "Smash! Panzyr! Use those!" he yelled, indicating the razor-sharp shards of energy.

Smash saw the shards coming, and wasn't entirely sure how Beat intended for him to use them. But he had his own idea. He made a daring leap towards Soshiro, building up his energy to about as high as he could. His aura swirled around him, sucking in nearby energy shards towards him. As he drew closer, he focused all of his energy into his arm, with the razor sharp shards swirling around his fist. He prepared to throw a powerful punch towards the edge of Soshiro's gut. "Skull...CRACKER!" He yelled, directly before impact. The punch would release a blast of energy, along with shooting the shards into Soshiro's skin.

Panzyr wasn't sure what to do with the shards either. He decided to set them on fire using a Flamethrower and allow them to fly towards Soshiro.

Dammit! Soshiro thought. He immediately stopped his attack, but wasn't wuick enough to avoid Smash's punch. He took it full force, and was sent flying backwards. Fortunately for him, his tough body reduced the amount of damage, however it still did a number on him. just as he was recovering he noticed the other flaming shards flying towards him. "Oh, hell no," he said and, suddenly, he shrank down to the size of Smash and the others, the shards passing overhead. "Looks like being massive isn't working out for me," he said. "This should do." He raised his fists and entered a fighting stance.

Smash landed a few feet in front of him, and entered his own battle stance. Unlike before, he stayed in his High Tension state.

Suddenly, a large green orb appeared in the sky and, as soon as it appeared, shot down towards the far side of the island. As soon as it landed, every fighter in the crater felt a small bit of pressure, as if the air suddenly got tighter.

"You guys feel that?" Beat asked, shocked by the sudden events.

Smash and Silver stopped in their tracks, and looked over as well. "Yeah, I felt it." Smash said.

Ibara and Soshiro both turned to look in the direction where the meteor had fallen. "Was that.." Ibara started.

"I think it was," Soshiro replied.

"Was that WHAT?" Splice called out, now sounding worried. "What is it?"

At that moment, Two figures riding on a jet board came flying towards them. "Smash! Everyone! Are you alright!?" Gizmo cried out as he caught up to them. He noticed Soshiro and Ibara immediately, and tensed up.

"What's going on? What was that noise?" Amber asked, clutching onto Gizmo's shoulders tightly. "And..why aren't you fighting anymore...?"

"You're guess is as good as ours," Soshiro said, raising his hands and shaking his head. "Whatever that thing was, it looked a lot like V's energy."

"Should we go and check it out? See what happened?" Ibara asked Soshiro.

Gizmo hopped off the board with Amber, as Splice and Kyle came to join Smash's side of the group. "We came with supplies, hoping that we could help you guys out here, but.." Amber's voice trailed off.

"We have a much bigger problem at hand." Gizmo said. "If what Soshiro said is true, then I believe that V's fusion is complete."

Splice's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "What? Fusion? You can't mean...!?"

"Wait...fusion? What fusion?" Soshrio asked, revealing that the two of them knew nothing of V's origins.

"Long-story-short, your leader and our friend, V and Wes, may have just fused into the most powerful person in the world," Beat replied. Ibara and Soshiro were dumbfounded by the new information.

"W-wait a second," Soshiro said, placing his hand on his head, trying to grasp the information provided. "If they have fused, is he still...you know..V?"

Gizmo shook his head. "There's no telling what he's become." He said. "Let alone, who's side he's on." He flashed the two of the Daleth a warning look. "Which means that it's highly possible that we're all in grave danger."

Smash closed his eyes, and folded his arms. "There's only one way to find out.." He said. He let his aura fade, and powered down. But he felt too tense to completely turn back to normal.

Ibara looked throughly annoyed with the entire situation, while Soshiro seemed to be weighing his options.

"To be entirely honest, I never really wanted to fight any of you," Soshiro said, surprisingly. "I was only following V's orders, in the hope that he would spare my world."

A look of shock appeared on Ibara's face when she heard Soshiro's reveal. Her look then turned to a dismal one. "Same here. I was hoping he'd spare Blussora as well."

"If there's a chance he's not himself anymore..." Soshiro said.

At the sound of their confessions, Smash's eyes popped right back open. He stared the two down, realizing what this meant.

"You mean...through all of this, we all really just wanted the same thing.." Splice dropped his two daggers, letting them hit the ground. "We all wanted to save our own worlds."

"But unlike you, we stood and fought." Kyle returned his sword back to it's sheath. "Even though V outmatches us, look how far we've come."

"It's not like that," Soshiro said, "The people of my world fought against V for years, but he proved to powerful for us. I sided with him, and in exhange he would alow my world to prosper, relatively speaking."

Splice glanced at Kyle, then back at the two. "...Truce?" He held out his hand to them.

"Heh, you guys go for it," Skyrat called out, "We've still got a job to finish." On that note, he and Shades disappeared into the soil once more, presumably off to reunite with Kasumi.

Ibara turned away. "Sorry, but no. If V's still V, I don't want to get on his bad side. what about you Soshiro?" When she turned around, she was shocked once again to see Soshiro's furry fand grasping Splice's. "W-what? You're joining them? You do know that means you'll lose you're-"

"If V's a different person now there's a chance all the Daleth'll lose their Delta Force," Soshiro said. "I'm siding with them because they've shown me it's possible to change things. I don't care if Iose that power."

Splice managed to smile a little, grateful to have managed to form a truce with him. "It's at times like these when we all need to work together." Smash said, looking at Soshiro. "Even if we lose our individual powers, one way or another, It's the fact that we're not alone that keeps us going."

After shaking Soshiro's hand, Splice turned to look at Ibara. Not saying a word, he held out his hand to her as well.

Ibara hesitated for a few seconds, then, with a heavy heart, shook his hand too. "Fine then. I don't care if I lose my Delta Force. Besides, better to go down fighting, right?"

"Uh, what exactly is this 'Delta Force' you keep mentioning?" Banzai asked, both overjoyed and bewildered by what was happening.

Soshiro sighed. "Might as well. If we're working together I should tell you about the Daleth. When someone qualifies to become a Daleth, V provides them with a small portion of his power: The Delta Force. It greatly boosts our own abilities, which is what makes the Daleth so formidable. All of us have the Delta Force, well, save for Marz. V thought he was strong enough already."

"So, in a way we've been trolling you this whole time," Ibara said jokingly. Splice buried his face into his palm, groaning slightly.

Smash stroked his chin. "I see...That explains a whole lot." He said.

Gizmo's eyes widened, "Oh, I'd better contact the others." He said, suddenly. He flipped open his wrist-communicator and held down a button on it. "Gizmo to Kitty. Do you read me? Gizmo to Thunder. Thunder, Do you copy?"

"Would you mind doing that while moving?" Soshiro said to Gizmo. "Kasumi's probably reached the center of the island by now."

Gizmo nodded. "Yeah, let's--" He was interrupted by a voice answering his call.

"Thunder, here." The yellow hedgehog on the screen answered. "Things aren't looking too good; That big green orb with V and Wes just shot off into the sky." As he spoke, Gizmo gestured for everyone else to go, as he began to walk with them. "I think it's safe to say that the fusion was successful..."

"It's just as I feared." Gizmo said. "We saw them fall down towards somewhere around the center of the island. That's where we'll be. We don't have many other options at the moment, so can you gather everyone and try to catch up?"

"Aye aye. We'll probably be late, since Levi's still injured and that Burst guy is still trying to kill the others..."

Suddenly, his communicator began to beep again. "Well, just do your best. I've got another transmission coming in." He pressed another button on the gadget, causing the screen to change to Kitty's face. "Kitty, where are you?"

"Chao mew-ra chao ko Meow." The cat chao responded.

"Really? Okay, I'll keep an eye out for you." Gizmo began to look around the sky. "We're inside of a large crater at the moment. You can't miss it."

"We need to hurry. Chances are Kasumi doesn't know about the current situation, or if he does, he'll still be loyal to V," Soshiro said. "Is there any way we can get to the center as quick as possible?"

"Have you forgotten who I am?" Ibara said, a mischievous grin on her face. He pointed to the ground, palm facing outward, and a large lotus-like flower sprouted from the rock. The petals bloomed outwards, creating a chamber of sorts in the center of the large flower. She stepped inside, and motioned for the others to follow. "Come on. I'll get us to the center."

"Why didn't you do that before?" Soshiro asked.

"Do you have any idea how inhospitible the soil is here? It takes a lot more energy than usual to use my powers here. A long range transport like this would have been a waste of enery before," she replied. "Hey, cat-boy, you gonna wait here for your friend?"

Gizmo rose an eyebrow at her. "Y'know, My name is Gizmo." He said. "In anycase, yeah. Go on without me. I can catch up pretty quickly."

Splice looked at the flowery chamber, somewhat uneasily. Everytime he saw a flower associated with her, it was never a good thing. It was weird when it wasn't. Just when he started to walk inside, Gizmo spoke up. "Oh yes, I almost forgot." He set down what was in his sack, and dug through it. "First of all, Here." He held up the two metal contraptions, his friends recognized them as the Magic Wings. Since they were off, they didn't look like wings at all. "You'll probably need these." He handed them both to Smash. "I've got more, but I'll hang onto them for now."

"Thanks." Smash said. "Be careful out here." He began to walk towards the flower, while Amber rushed past him to get to Splice.

"Splice, you forgot your daggers." She reminded him, holding them out carefully as the two stepped inside.

"Oh whoops. Thanks, Amber." He said, somewhat sheepishly.

"All right then. let's get a move on!" Banzai said, hurrying into the flower. He didn't seem to hold any distrust to his ex-enemies.

Part 10B
Meanwhile, Gizmo's airship and its occupants were being guarded by Tsunami, Cutter, and Gideon. Wes, Ciel and Levi were hiding inside the ship, for fear of the effects of V's power...

V appeared, in a faint flash, standing in front of the entrance to the ship. "I suppose he must be inside," he said to himself. "He must know what I'm planning."

Gizmo was off in the back of the ship, working on repairs to their engines and other systems. Kitty sat at a computer console, testing every few minutes to see if they had gone back online. All the other chao were removing the duct tape so they could actually repair the damages.

Violet, Crystal and Pearl were carrying supplies throughout the ship to wherever they were needed, as Thunder and his brothers were working on physical repairs along with the chao.

Amber watched as everyone went to work, unsure of what to do and where she was needed.

Wes hung out on the deck with Ciel, who were both looking out at the expanse of the island, possibly hoping to see their friends returning, triumphant. Levi sat in a corner on the deck, fiddling with some spare parts he found around the ship.

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion. It came from one of the lower parts of the ship.

"What was that!?" Gizmo cried out, jumping up from his work. At the same time, Kitty pressed the key to test the systems. In an instant, all of the lights within the ship switched to blood red as a loud alarm blared throughout the aircraft. Both of them were startled by the security system suddenly working again, but Gizmo soon realized that meant that they were back online. He ran over to the console and pressed another button, which brought up a comlink with everyone on the ship, whether they had wrist-communicators or could see him on a screen from another console.

"Gizmo, What happened?" Electric asked, from another console.

"I don't know. The security system started up with a bang, I know that." Gizmo said. "There was an explosion somewhere around the lower parts of the ship. I need you guys to check it out!"

On the deck of the ship, Wes, Ciel and Levi had all heard the explosion, and immediately assumed the worst. "He's here!" Levi shouted, then ran up to Wes. "You need to get out of here!" he said.

"We need to get out of here," Wes replied. "He's in one of the ship's lower levels, I can feel it."

"You gettin this Gizmo? V's here, and he's most likely after Wes, Ciel or both," Levi said into a communicator on his wrist.

Gizmo's eyes widened in shock. "V's..V's...HERE IN MY SHIP!?!?" He shrieked. Kitty nearly fainted at the mere thought of it. "Alright everyone, Drop whatever you're doing and evacuate immediately!"

Wes grabbed Levi's arm and yelled into his wrist communicator, "Whatever you do, DO NOT EXIT THROUGH THE MAIN ENTRANCE!!!"

"Got it!" Gizmo then grabbed Kitty and rushed out the room. He soon met Violet's group, all overtaken with terror. "Follow me!' He said.

Meanwhile, Thunder and his brothers were looking around for another exit. "Don't exit through the main entrance, huh?" Thunder mumbled. "What other entrance IS there?"

Down below, V was casually walking through the ship's corridors, searching for his prize. "Now, where can you be?" he muttered to himself.

Without warning, a sharp crack reverberated through the air.

V quickly turned around, searching for the origin of the sound. "Who's there?" he asked.

Silence, at first. Then, without warning, a black fog darted towards V.

((OMG I swear that said 'frog'. My god, I'm misreading a lot of stuff in this RP lol Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 22:23, January 15, 2012 (UTC)))

((Killer frog attack! XD))

V swiftly turned around, raised his hand, and stopped the fog in midair using his telekinesis. "Not so fast," he said. Then, with a flick of his wrist, he sent the foggy mass flying into the wall. "I have no time for you," V said, and walked towards the staircase behind him. "I heard a crash up there. Maybe the rats thinking they can escape?"

As soon as it hit the wall, the fog rebounded and dispersed, revealing Gideon. Dammit, he thought to himself.

"Hm?" V turned around to see Gideon standing behind him. "Oh, it's you," he said casually. "Sorry, but I've got no time for you."

Back above, Thunder stopped in front of a staircase leading below at the sound of the crack. He gasped, realizing that V was probably down there. "N-Not that way.." He stammered.

"Oh, forget THIS!" Lightning yelled. He ran to the nearest window and went crashing through it. Thunder exchanged glances with his brothers before they all followed after.

Tsunami casually stepped through the broken window after them, then continued walking as if there were some invisible platform under her, preventing her from falling.

V instinctively turned around after hearing the crash. Something was going on up the stairs, and he wanted to find out. He teleported up the stairs in an instant, and saw the broken window. He walked up to it and looked outside, only to see Lightning and the others falling to the ground, and Tsunami seemingly walking on thin air. "Why, hello there," he called out, as if making conversation. "Where do you think you're going? I have questions that need to be answered."

Tsunami simply stared at V with her usual blank expression. After a few moments, she finally spoke up, saying, "What makes you think I'm going to answer them?"

"Hmph, bold aren't you?" V replied, smiling. "Where is the one called 'Wes'?" he asked her.

Lightning completely froze at the sound of his voice. Several words expressing exactly how terrified he was ran through his mind, but not one came out his mouth. He and his brothers weren't sure if they should, or could run or not. Soon, however, the found that they couldn't move. They were literally frozen in place, along with several shards of falling glass, by V's powers.

Gizmo had gathered up most of everyone else in the main room, and exited through a platform leading out to the top of the ship. He lead everyone to the back, and down a ladder. He froze when he heard V outside. He held up his hands to halt everyone following. Nobody made a move, as they heard V's voice on the other side of the ship. Gizmo leaned towards Kitty, and whispered something into his ear. Kitty nodded, and began to fly away from the ship. He looked back, hesitantly, but kept going.

After another brief pause, Tsunami finally responded to V's question. "I don't know, nor would I tell the likes of you. I am not loyal to you, and I never have been," she said calmly.

"Ohoho. You must feel pretty big, saying this to me of all people," V replied. He spoke to Tsunami in the same manner as speaking to a delinquent child. "No matter. I'll simply go looking myself. As for all of you..." He turned and walked away, leaving behind an image of himself standing by the window. As the real V walked away, the clone V spoke: "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to teach you to respect your superiors. You would have been useful as a Daleth, but I suppose I can find someone better than you in another world."

Tsunami simply crossed her arms and stared blankly at the clone.

The clone stepped out of the broken window and walked, on thin air, towards Tsunami. Suddenly, he stopped and stared hard at Tsunami. "Tell me, honestly. Do you want to fight me?" he asked.

Once again, Tsunami remained silent for a moment before answering, "Not in this world. I am no fool, I know I would need all of my power to stand a chance against you, and I do not have access to some of said power in this plane."

"You make it sound like you are capable of defeating me," V replied. "Surely someone as smart and experienced as you would no better than to underestimate her opponent?" He folded his arms, and winked at Tsunami. The instant he winked, the shards of glass that were suspended in the air shot towards Tsunami.

Tsunami stayed where she was and simply raised one hand. The sea around the island responded, bringing up a wall of water in front of her, dense enough to be considered solid. "Here in the middle of the ocean, we are in my domain," she said calmly, "The waters around us respond to my will. As do some of the other elements as well." To prove her point, she thrust her hand toward him. The air seemed to distort in front of her, as a thin blade of wind materialized and rushed at V.

As soon as the blade reached V, the air returned to normal, the blade vanishing completely withoug V moving a muscle. "Well that's good for you," he said to Tsunami, simultaneously extending his arms. "However, what you must realize is that everyhwere is my domain." He then thrust his hand towards her, turning her wall of water to vapour and firing a blast of invisible telekinetic force at her.

Tsunami's cyan streaks flashed fuschia, and V's attack was met with a second invisible psychic blast coming from Tsunami. "Your parlor tricks no longer surprise me. We all know just what you're capable of," she replied, "I, on the other hand, have not shown the true extent of my power."

"You talk as if you know everything I can do. But, sure, why not? I'd love to see to extent of your power" V extended his arms, as if inviting Tsunami to attack. "By all means, impress me."

The area around Tsunami began to distort and change, until four more Tsunamis had materialized on each side of the original, making nine total. Each one began charging up a sphere of lightning in each hand, then charged at V, changing places rapidly in order to disorient him.

The clone didn't flinch. A gravity-like force repelled the Tsunamis away from V, and the closer they got to him, the more powerful it became.

The Tsunamis pressed forward against the force exerted by V. However, they were unable to resist it entirely, and stopped a few feet away. They thrust their lightning spheres forward, which stopped short just a few inches from him. In the tight cluster of clones blurred by the hydrokinetic lightning, it would be very difficult to tell that there were now only eight Tsunamis.

"Psycho Crush," V muttered, and all the Tsunami clones (assuming they're all clones) felt the same powerful force being exerted on them from all sides, immobilizing them. The forces grew stronger and stronger, threatening to crush them.

The Tsunamis withstood the attack for quite a while, only seeming to flicker slightly as it gets stronger. Dark clouds have begun to roll in overhead.

"All right, enough playing." V simply brushed the Tsunamis aside as he stepped out of the circle, as if they were figurines, as they were being held perfectly still by his telekinesis. "If this is the true extend of your power, I'm severely unimpressed," V called out, "If it takes you this long to defeat a clone with only a fraction of my power, I can't imagine how you could think you could ever stand a chance against me."

With a crack of lightning, an electrical storm began in the clouds that had gathered above. The Tsunamis flickered and faded away, revealing that they had been mere illusions the whole time. Several lightning bolts struck at the same spot high in the air, where the real Tsunami floated, her fur gray with a black, four-pointed star across the bridge of her nose. The whites of her eyes had changed to black, and the irises to yellow, while two large, clawed wings grew from her back. She held one hand in the air where the lightning bolts struck, surrounding her hand in black and white lightning. "And if it took you this long to realize what I've been doing, then your power has been decreasing more rapidly than I thought," she replied, the expression on her face unchanged.

V sighed, and bowed his head in disappointment. "You just love making assumptions, don't you?" He looked at Tsunami and smiled. "Now, where would the fun be is I stopped your little attack? I don't want to end this too quickly. I want to see just what you're capable of." He extended his arms at his sides, inviting Tsunami to do her worst. "Let's see if you can live up to my expectations."

Tsunami flew down at V too fast for the eyes of most people to see, the sphere of black and white lightning growing as she flew. By the time she reached him, the sphere had enough power to potentially destroy the airship, should it hit anything. But just before the attack could reach him, a spot on the ship crackled with ordinary lightning. A second Tsunami flew up out of it, wielding a blade of solid lightning, ablaze with black flames. Her fur was normal and there were no wings, but her eyes were varying shades of blue, with a dark blue symbol on her irises, blood trickling from one eye. At the speed she was moving, she would reach and strike V's back at the same time the other Tsunami struck his front, and with the same amount of power.

Quickly, V extended both arms to his sides, each palm facing a Tsunami. Just before reaching him, both Tsunami's froze in place, each attack stopping milimeters from his hands, the lightning and flames frozen like a still image. "That's it? Come now, I'd like to be forced to use something more than basic telekinesis," V said to the Tsunamis. Just as he finished speaking, however, something caught his eye: the sight of someone looking remarkably similar to him standing outside the ship. During this moment of blind elation, he relaxed his guard slightly, weakening his hold on the Tsunamis.

The two immediately flew forward, their own powers shattering what was left of his, and sending the two attacks at him full-force.

The clone didn't seem to care that he was being destroyed by Tsunami's attack. In fact, he didn't even seem to feel it. As he was impaled from both sides, he just evaporated into a neon green mist, his devilish grin hanging in the air.

As the clone was destroyed, the telekinetic force binding Lightning, his brothers and the shards of the shattered window vanished, causing them all to fall to the ground.

Meanwhile, inside the airship, the real V searched all over for Wes. Unlike Wes, V could not sense his presence like Wes could sense his. Dammit, he thought, ''just being in the same area as him is draining my power. I could easily sniff him out by using a circuit grid, but I must conserve energy''.

Meanwhile, on the opposite end of the airship, Wes, Ciel and Levi were navigating their way through the ship, taking advantage of Wes's ability to sense V to avoid runninginto him. "Where the heck's the exit!?" Wes cried out in frustration. After rounding the next corner, his wish was answered: They saw the massive hole v had made in the side of the ship. "Finally!" Levi cried out as the three of them sprinted out of the airship. Once outside, Wes suddenly stopped and turned back to the ship. "What about everyone else?" he asked.

"I hate to say it, but getting you away from here is of utmost priority right now," Levi said, glumly. "The others...they're just gonna have to fend for themselves."

Suddenly, The side of the airship exploded, and V shot out of the smoke and debris left behind, heading straight for Wes. Levi stepped between the two, in a desparate attempt to stop the impending fusion. As he charged towards Wes, V raised his hand and fired a beam of green psychokinetic energy at Levi, impaling him in the abdomen and causing him to collapse. Wes, desperate to get away, started sprinting in the opposite direction. However, V was to fast for him, and flew towards him at high speed, eventually ramming right into him. As soon as they collided, a massive orb of neon green light enveloped the two, preventing anyone from interferring with what was going on inside.

Levi, severely weakened, brought his wrist communicator up to his face. "G...Gizmo, we've got a serious problem." He stuggled to get the words out, and began coughing up blood. Clie ran over to him and held his wrist. "Gizmo, Levi's been badly injured by V, and Wes and V...they've met, and there's nothing we can do about it." She looked at the sphere of light that shielded Wes and V. "Gizmo, where's Paroi?"

Meanwhile, Gizmo had managed to lead everyone back to the ground, and a safe distance away from the ship. They watched in horror as they could see all of what was going on. Gizmo immediately answered his com-link with Levi, as Kitty flew back to catch up with them. "No...." All the events happening at once were beginning to be too much for him. He stood there, completely shocked.

Pearl looked over his shoulder and answered for him. "Paroi left with Smash and the others!" She said. "I'm bringing Crystal, instead! Hang on, Levi." She looked back at Crystal and Violet, both of who nodded, and lead them back to the ship.

"Be careful!" Amber called back. Cutter and alternate David soon followed after them.

Kitty opened up his com-link again and let everyone see. After a moment, Smash appeared on the screen. "Kitty! Are you the--guys? What's going on? W-why arent you at the ship?" He was getting extremely worried. "And where's everyone else? Where's Pearl?"

"S-Smash..." Gizmo stammered. "V..Invaded the ship. It's in even worse condition than before, so our plans for escape might not work. But..we've got a bigger problem."

Smash's eyes widened with shock, as he realized what could have happened. "Y-you mean...?"

Gizmo nodded. "V and Wes...met...and are fighting. T-there's nothing we can do, now..."

"Y'know, if I was from where you were from, I might actually feel bad about making your problems so much worse," a voice called from not to far away. It was inverse Burst, with Victor by his side. "We ain't gonna let the big bad Velious have all the fun. While he's over there doing his thing, you guys play with us."

Gizmo felt something snap inside of him. He gritted his teeth, "Fun? You think this is FUN?" He growled, not even glancing at the two. His clenched fists began to shake. "We have no way of getting back before the island sinks and drowns us all, Our enemy might end up turning into an ax-crazy god-like Monster any second now. And all my friends are in grave danger." He shot them a fierce look, with tears of rage forming in his eyes. "And You think it's all a big GAME!? NO. I refuse. If this is just a game to you, then I'm not wasting my time fighting with you or your gangster buddies." He turned his back on them, looking at the few companions left with him: Amber, Keela, Kitty and the rest of the chao.

"Gizmo..." Amber gave him a worried look. "W-what exactly can we do, then...?"

Burst laughed, amused by Gizmo's response. "Who said I thought this was a game? Serious business can be fun. You need to lighten up a bit. You basically said it yourself, you're screwed, so why not enjoy yourself while you have the chance. Have a blast!" On that last word, Burst thrust his arm forward, creating a small explosion in front of Gizmo and his friends. "Vic, get ready to cover me," he said to his partner, "Ten bucks says Shorty's gonna blow a fuse."

Gizmo did almost blow a fuse, but focused more on dodging rather than getting angry. As soon as the smoke from the blast faded, Keela drew her sword and stood in front of the group. "Gizmo, I don't know what we can do right now.." She started, "But I fear my brother and the others are in serious danger right now." She looked back at him, "We will do all that we can from here. Please, I want you to find and help them."

Gizmo looked back at her, "You can't fight them alone, are you crazy?" His anger was quickly replaced with surprise.

Keela shook her head. "I'm not alone." She replied, simply. "But hurry! Take what you can from the ship and deliver it to them!" She looked back at Burst and Victor, and gripped the handle of her blade tightly. "As for you...I will not allow you to harm my friends."

"And I've got an itchy trigger finger," said Gideon, stepping forward to join Keela, cocking his riot gun at the same time.

Gizmo stared at them for a few seconds, before nodding slowly. "Alright..." He glanced over at Kitty. "Kitty, I'm sorry, but I need you to stay here." He said. "You and your dad need to lead the chao. Do whatever's necessary, just make sure everyone stays safe. And you're the only chao with a working communicator."

Kitty nodded. "Ch-chao." He said. He flew back towards the other chao, most of who were still panicking after Burst's first attack, while Gizmo ran towards the ship. Amber looked back and forth between the battle starting up and Gizmo running away. "...Wait for me!" She cried out, running after him.

"On second thought, go check on the others," Burst said to Victor, "I should be able to deal with the these two." Victor nodded and faded into the shadows. Burst then proceeded to swing his arms as if he were throwing energy blasts. Instead, Keela and Gideon were bombarded with randomly generated explosions.

Tsunami abruptly materiallized between Burst, Keela, and Gideon, an almost-solid wall of water taking most of the force from the explosions.

Burst paused for a moment, somewhat dumbfounded by the interruption. After registering what had happened, he shouted, "Hey! What's the big ide-- woah." He paused, finding his gaze oddly locked upon Tsunami. "Heh heh, Burst has got an idea," he whispered to himself.

Keela took the chance to dash towards Burst as soon as Tsunami blocked the explosions, and give a good swing towards his chest.

Burst quickly brought his attention back to his opponent, and backflipped away from the attack. On the upswing, he attempted to kick Keela's sword from her grasp.

He only succeeded in kicking the handle. Her grip was too strong. She quickly retaliated by swinging the blade towards the leg that kicked it.

The second Tsunami, blood still trickling from one eye, appeared between the two, blocking Keela's blade with her own blade of lightning. Unlike the other Tsunami, this one had a cold, murderous look in her eyes.

"Hey! What are you-" Keela stopped the moment she saw her eyes. She knew something was seriously wrong, and backed off immediately.

The murderous Tsunami raised one fist, needles of solid lightning appearing between her fingers. She threw the needles at Keela with expert precision. If any of the needles struck, Keela would be electrocuted and paralyzed, followed by stray bolts of electricity shooting off and striking anyone else who got too close.

Keela threw herself to the side, trying to dive out of the way. However, one of the needles struck her leg before she could fully escape. She collapsed to the ground, crying out in pain as she found herself unable to move.

A single bolt of electricity lanced off of Keela, heading for Tsunami, who caused it to dissipate with a simple wave of her hand. She then calmly strided over to Keela and waved her hand over her, negating the paralysis. Inverse Tsunami frowned in annoyance at this.

Amazed by the sudden occurance, Burst could hardly comprehend what was going on. So there's two of them... Ohh, this is too good, he deviously thought. "Hey, blue-babe," he called over to Inverse Tsunami, "What do you say we tag-team and give this two a real run for their money?"

Keela looked shocked at the sight of two Tsunami's. She stood up, and gripped her sword again. This might not end well... She thought.

Inverse Tsunami glanced over at Burst and gave a playful smirk. "Normally I can handle myself pretty well. How do you think I've been escaping the cops all these years?" she replied, "But I'll tell you what. Since they've got another me on their side, I'll let you help out this time. Just 'cause she might stand a slight chance against the real Aquella Oceania."

"I see what you're getting at," Burst said with a grin, "Alright, you and... other you duke it out, while I keep the girl and her knife busy." He turned his attention back to Keela, and gestured for her to attack with a two-fingered taunt.

Gideon looked over at Keela. "Do you want me to help, or do you want to solo this clown?"

Keela nodded. "Any help would be much appreciated." She replied. She clutched her sword tightly, and charged forward. She quickly swung her sword at him multiple times, at such force and speed that it would be difficult to avoid.

Burst jumped back repeatedly to avoid the slashes, showing that he was faster than he appeared, maybe even moreso than his better-known counterpart. Following one longer leap backwards, Burst thrust his arms forward again, blowing the ground beneath Keela to pieces.

The explosion blew her into the air. Though she was hurt from the blast, she didn't let that stop her. She flipped a few times in the air, and came down towards Burst with her sword above her head, ready to cleave him in two.

Given a fair opening, Burst sidestepped to dodge the attack. As she came down, Burst dealt a hook punch to her gut, all the while charging his fist with explosive force.

Keela managed to bring the hilt of her sword up to block the punch, but the new explosion knocked her over. She rolled back a couple of feet before getting back up a safe distance from him.

All the while, Gideon had been taking advantage of the moment, aiming carefully at Burst's head with his rifle, waiting for him to stand relatively still. He stood to the side of the fight to avoid shooting Keela on accident, using a DarkShroud to hide himself at the same time.

The two Tsunamis simply stared at each other for a moment before suddenly generating lightning in their hands. Tsunami simply formed a small sphere of lightning, while Inverse Tsunami created a sword out of it. The two flew at each other at unbelievable speeds, swinging their attacks at one another at the same moment. Tsunami, fully expecting their two attacks to meet and cancel each other out, was surprised when Inverse Tsunami's blade slashed right through Tsunami's. She stopped herself mid-air and launched backward as her opponent's blade made a shallow cut across her palm. Upon landing, Tsunami's injured palm became filled with cyan light. After a few seconds, the light faded, leaving no trace of the cut behind, aside from the torn glove.

Burst flashed Keela a grin and said, "You're pretty good, but there ain't no way I'm letting you off easy." He flexed both his arms, creating a blue flame over each of his hands. In a great show of speed he dashed towards Keela and leaped, aiming to bring her down with a mighty punch.

Keela waited for the right moment. Like he did to her, She side-stepped just before taking the blow, and quickly whirled around to slash him almost immediately afterwards.

The attack managed to cut through his vest, which was already very rugged, but he jumped back to avoid any further damage. "RJ's vest..." he muttered to himself. "You ruined RJ's vest!!!" In a fury of rage, Burst began to conjure up explosions all around him. There were no specific targets, but they were large and numerous, making them difficult to avoid.

Keela yelped, trying to dodge as many explosions as possible. But there were too many for her, and she ended up getting blown back and forth, unable to avoid any more.

At this point, Gideon fired at Burst's head, the sharp report of his rifle resounding through the air.

Hearing the sound of the gunshot, Burst jerked to the side quick, barely avoiding the bullet. Following the sound, he created one more focused explosion on its location, hoping to strike his concealed target.

Just before the explosion hit, Gideon darted out of the way, still under the effects of DarkShroud. He dashed at Burst and thrust out with the side of his rifle, aiming to slam him in the face with it.

Burst took the blunt of the hit, unable to see it coming. Knowing his opponent to now be close up, he engulfed his body in an intense blue flame, activating a sort of immolation. The gunman was forced back by the ferocious heat, covering his face.

Keela struggled to stand up, after taking so many hits from the explosions.

Crystal, Violet and Pearl stopped in front of Levi and Ciel. Without wasting a single second, Crystal knelt by Levi and held her hand to her chest. A soft, white glow emitted from the crystal on her tail, which traveled across her body and up to her hand. She placed her hand on Levi's wound, and it quickly began to heal up.

Violet and Pearl immediately took notice of the large green aura near them, and took a few steps back from it. "I-Is that...?" Violet stammered.

"I-I think it is..." Pearl gulped. At that moment, Cutter and inverse David arrived.

"Is everyone alright?" David asked.

Paroi suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and was immediately lost as to what was currently happening. His confusion turned to disbelief once he saw, or rather, felt, the large sphere of green enegry. he looked to the others, horrified. "Please tell me that isn't what I believe it is?"

"I-It is..." Crystal whimpered.

"What can we do...?" David asked, worried.

"Leave, I suppose," Paroi answered. Personally, I don't want to be around when whatever's in there breaks loose."

As soon as he finished his sentence, the green orb suddenly and without warning shot up into the air, as if fired from a cannon, releasing a strong blast of air into the surroundings. Once it was high in the sky, it hovered for a few seconds, shrank, then fell towards another part of the island like a meteorite.

Paroi simply stood stil, paralyzed and astonished. "I-I think they're done," he said to no one in particular.

"Great," Levi grunted from the ground. "Just great. Like things couldn't get any worse. Not only are they probably fused, but this super-powered being is somewhere on the island, and we don't know whose side he's on."

"Oh, I have an idea on where he is. His power isn't that hard to sense," Paroi said. "It's just difficult to pinpoint his exact location because, well, it's so expansive." Crystal clung onto Pearl's arm. "I'm scared...What's going to happen to us now?"

"Shh...We'll think of something..." Pearl whispered back.

"I suggest we head to the center of the island," Paroi said, "That's where I think everyone's going to be anyway. We musn't lose sight of our focus."

David nodded. "Yes. Staying here won't do any good, either."

"But first, let's go help Keela and Tsunami back there." Violet said, pointing her thumb back to where the fight was.

"Hm...I don't think that would be wise. We should save our energy to deal with whatever's now on the island with us," Paroi said.

"You think we should stop them?" Levi asked, struggling to stand. Paroi moved over to him and supported him.

"We should at least let them know what's going on," Paroi replied.

"I couldn't care less about who they're fighting." Pearl said. "But I'm going to go and get them out of there." She turned away from the group, and ran towards the battle taking place away from the ship.

"Wait!" Paroi said, teleporting in front of her, blocking her way. "You can't just run into the middle of a battle, especiall one of this scale." He had Burst's expllosive abilities in mind when he said that. "Try getting their attention."

Pearl looked somewhat frustrated, but nodded. "Keela! Gideon! We need to get going, Come back!"

Suddenly, Thunder's wrist-communicator began beeping. Quickly, he flipped it open. "Thunder, here." As he answered, the screen faded in to Gizmo's face. "Things aren't looking too good; That big green orb with V and Wes just shot off into the sky. I think it's safe to say that the fusion was successful..."

"It's just as I feared." Gizmo said. "We saw them fall down towards somewhere around the center of the island. That's where we'll be. We don't have many other options at the moment, so can you gather everyone and try to catch up?"

"Aye aye. We'll probably be late, since Levi's still injured and that Burst guy is still trying to kill the others..." Thunder gave an uneasy look towards the area where the battle was taking place.

"Well, just do your best. I've got another transmission coming in." Gizmo said. Thunder nodded, and closed the top to the communicator.

"Gizmo says they're already on their way to the center of the island." He said, looking towards Paroi and Levi. "And apparently V's "orb" landed around there, too."

Paroi grunted in frustration. "Just great," he said.

Gizmo and Amber ran through the hallways of the ship, which was in such bad condition that pieces of it were just falling apart. It pained him to see his ship in such condition, especially at a time like this. Soon, the two made it to the supplies room. Gizmo let out a sigh of relief when he saw that everything was still intact. "Okay, Here's what we'll need." He said. He grabbed a sack and stuffed a load of Elemental rings into it. "Hand Cannon, Grapple Gun, Remote controlled Bow&Arrows, Chaff Gun, Magic Wings," As he listed each one, Amber sought out each item and put it in the sack. "And finally, the Jet Board." He finished. As Amber brought the Jet board to him, he simply took it out of her hands. "This doesn't go in there." He said. He then tied the sack and handed the board back to her. "Alright, Follow me!" He then ran back outside the room and lead her out of the ship. Outside, Gizmo took the board from her and activated it. The board began to hover above the ground like Extreme Gear. "C'mon!" He took her hand and jumped on top of it. "Hang on; I'm not used to having a second person riding with me!"

Amber gulped, not even sure how the thing was supposed to work. But she did as she was told, and held onto his shoulders firmly. They soon blasted off, flying away from the area and passing through the rough terrain with ease, except for the large spires they had to avoid.

Meanwhile, Kasumi was nearing the large spire in the center of the island. He walked along quite casually, as if he didn't have a care in the world. "I assumed they'd be smart enought to send a few of their forces ahead," he said, noticing that his enemies weren't around. "Guess I overestimated them."

Keela looked over towards the ship, seeing a few of her friends waving to her. "G-Gideon..! Fall back..." She called back, with strain in her voice. She limped away towards the ship, trying to make haste. Looking back at Burst for a second, he quickly followed after Keela.

"Listen up! All of you!" Paroi yelled to Burst and the Tsunamis. "Please stop fighting. We're all in danger here. It would be best to conserve all of our energy for later."

Burst took a moment to assess the situation, then backed off of Gideon and said, "Fine, I'll play with you some other time." He pulled a warp ring from the inside of his damaged vest --which was interestingly silver in this dimension rather than gold-- and used it to leave the area.

Tsunami rose out of her kneeling position, allowing the sphere of lightning around her hand to dissipate. She turned and strode silently toward the other heroes. Aquella, unwilling to let a challenge like Tsunami escape, released a sudden blast of electrical energy at her and the other heroes. Sensing the blast coming, Tsunami spun around and drew the energy into a sphere in her palm. However, having been taken mostly by surprise, she was unable to take in all of the lightning, while the rest lanced out and attempted to strike the other heroes.

"Oh no!" Paroi shouted. He quickly drew upon his magic, lightning elemental, and used it to redirect the electricity away from the heroes, safely grounding it. "Attacking an opponent from behind is a cowardly move," Paroi said to Aquella.

"Yeah! Not only that but we really gotta stop fighting!" Lightning yelled.

"We're all in very grave danger." Electric added. Before he could say anything else, Keela, who had been limping towards them, suddenly collapsed.

"Keela!" Thunder cried out. He and his brothers ran to her aid, followed by Crystal. Keela was still conscious, but injured badly from the explosions. "I'm...sorry.." She said in between breaths.

"I don't care about morals," Aquella said fiercely, "I only care about killing. And I am not gonna let anyone interfere!" With that, she released another blast of lightning, this time aimed at Keela.

Before the lightning could strike her, a crystal shaped barrier formed around Keela and everyone around her. The lightning merely bounced off and died out upon impact. Crystal stood in the center of the barrier, in front of Keela. Her arms were outstretched and her whole body was glowing as she held the barrier up. She then pointed her palms down towards her, as the atmosphere inside seemingly began to sparkle. "Revitalize..." She whispered softly. As she spoke, everyone within began to feel a strong healing power from all around them, giving them energy. Though it was mainly aimed at Keela, the effects were wide-ranged.

The lightning was suddenly countered by a Shadow Ball, creating a miniature explosion. Gideon was standing between Keela and Aquella.

((Edit confliction. -_-; ))

Aquella broke into a run, charging at Gideon at rediculous speeds. Twin swords materialized in her hands, both made entirely of lightning. As she ran, she glanced down at the blades, causing them both to burst into black flames, while the eye that had been bleeding before began to bleed again.

Paroi clasps his hands together and slowly separated them, forming a glowing white orb in his hands.He then turned his palms outwards, facing Aquella. "Seraphic Star!" he said, thrusting his hands forward, firing the orb at Aquella. As it flew towards Aquella, it gathered energy from the surroundings, growing bigger and bigger as it passed out through Crystal's barrier, and would explode on contact.

Aquella noticed the orb and stopped, closing her bleeding eye and fixing the orb in the gaze of her other eye. Soon, space around the orb began to distort, creating a small, black tear in space at her focal point, threatening to suck in the orb and anything that got too close.

Keela managed to stand up, feeling the strength return to her. "I'm sorry to cause you all trouble." She said. "Thank you, Crystal. Let's go."

"I don't have time for this," Paroi said, sounding quite tired. "This should work." He clasped his hands together, preparing another spell. "All of you, prepare to run," he said to the others.

"Right." Keela nodded. She looked at everyone else behind him, "Are you ready?"

"Give me a second." Paroi shot Aquella a look. "This should stop you, literally," he said.

Aquella smirked and crossed her arms in front of her chest. She then swung them out in front of her, pointing them at Paroi. Dozens of needles of electricity materialized around her arms and immediately shot out at Paroi at an alarming speed. Several clones of her jumped up out of the water, took up positions around Paroi and began firing needles at him as well.

Paroi simply smirked back at her, adding a little wink as well. Then, as all assaults were upon him, he muttered,softly: "Stopga." Suddenly, everyone and everything within the area, save for Paroi and his allies, froze. Falling pebbles stopped in midair, dust clouds remined immobile, and the clouds stopped moving altogether. Everything was simply frozen in time. Paroi stood straight and walked in a circle around his position, waving his hand over the needles. As his hands passed over the frozen needles, the redirected themselves back towards the Aquellas. It was obvious from the strain on Paroi's face and the stiffness of his movements that holding such a powerful spell was putting a huge strain on his body. "All...of...you," he said to his allies, slowly. "We...must...leave, before...I lose...the spell."

"It will be difficult to get far enough away from her," Tsunami said, "If you want to get far enough away that it will take a while for her to find us, we'll have to go pretty far."

"That may...be true..." Paroi said. He stroked his chin. "Wait. I...have an idea. If...I time it...just right...I can...teleport...all of us...to the others. But... I would...need all of you...to stand...close."

Crystal let down her barrier, and the group quickly huddled around Paroi, not wasting a second. As the barrier fell, if one looked closely, one would see that things were, very, very slowly, begining to move again. Paroi's face was stiff and tense, beads of sweat running down his forehead. "All right then...if everyone's...ready." Time slowly began to move once more, and the instant Aquella regained her senses, Paroi teleported himself and his allies safely out of harms way, leaving Aquella all alone.


 * ((Ryu-I have no idea where the hell Panzyr went. ._.)
 * ((He should still be with the others who were fighting Soshiro and Ibara Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 22:33, February 10, 2012 (UTC)))
 * ((Ryu-Oh yeah.))

Part 10C:
The heroes and their new allies were transported to the base of the large spire at the center of the island, where the Harmonia Gemstone lay in wait for them, and potentially a great threat to this world and all others. A large, pink lotus-like flower emerged from the rocky soil, blooming to reveal the heroes, save for Gizmo.

Banzai was the first to step out of the flower, or rather, jump out. He hated enclosed spaces and was happy to be outside again. Following him was Beat, who carefully stepped out from the flower, and admired the tall tower-like structure that stoop before them.

Splice jumped out of the flower as well, clearly wanting to be free of the tight plant. "Whew! We're here." He said.

Kyle and Smash calmly stepped out, staring up at the spire. "This is it.." Smash said.

Just a few feet in front of them, the group from the ship had just arrived and were regrouping. "Whoa, are we there already?" Lightning asked, staring up at the spire.

"Looks like it." Cutter said.

Splice looked towards them, "Guys! Hey how'd you get here before us?" He called out, running over to them.

"That was...thanks to me," Paroi said, before collapsing on the ground. From the floor, he muttered, "Curing Ciel, fighting foes, stopping time, teleporting. It's not healthy to do all those things without rest in between." Ciel immediately ran over to him and supported him.

Levi walked to the center of the group. "Is everyone here?" he asked.

Both Gideon and Panzyr nodded.

Smash's group quickly headed over to the others. "We're here." He said. "Except for Gizmo. He and Kitty should be on their way right about now."

"All right then. I'll wait out here for them, since I wouldn't be of much use in there anyway." He placed his palm over where his fatal wound once was. Although it was healed, he still felt weakend from his near-death experience. "The rest of you, hurry up and get that gemstone! Time is of the essence! We need to get out of here before running into V! I mean Wes...or...whoever he is."

"I'll stay here too," Paroi said. "I've used up too much of my energy to be of any use to you all."

"Me too. I probably won't be of much help either," Ciel said.

Without a second thought, Banzai rushed into the tall, tower-like structure, not looking back to see if the others where following.

"What an impulsive kid," Kleft said, also going towards the tower. He looked over his shoulder, to see if the others followed him. "You guys coming?"

"Of course!" Splice exclaimed. He darted after Banzai, running right past Kleft. Smash and Pearl, both who were glad to see eachother still in one piece, just walked at a normal pace towards the entrance of the tower.

"This is it guys. We can't guarantee what will happen once we reach that gemstone." Smash spoke up as he walked past Kleft. "Stay sharp, and stay together." He added a hint of annoyance with the last part, referring to Splice and Banzai.

Violet and Crystal exchanged glances, and nodded before following after them. Thunder and his brothers headed out with them as well.

"I think that I should stay here." Silver suggested. "Someone needs to watch over these three, in case danger comes here as well." He nodded towards Paroi,Levi and Ciel.

"Then I'll stay too." Cutter added. Amber silently nodded, staying behind as well. Inverse David was one of the last people to start going.

Tendril and the two Infernas followed, making sure to stay close together. Tsunami was only a few steps behind them.

((Just making sure everyone's caught up with the story at this point. Please respond so I know you're here. Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 19:02, February 11, 2012 (UTC)))

((Tsunami, Inferna and Tendril are still with them, right? Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 02:58, February 13, 2012 (UTC)))

Meanwhile, some distance ahead of the group, Kasumi had already entered the spire. As it turned out, the spire was actually some sort of ancient tower, it's interior made up entirely of a massive, spiralling staircase and several pillars, marked with hieroglyphics depicting an ancient society of what looked like echidnas. Kasumi had reached about 1/8 the distance from the top of the tower, which was good progress considering it's height. "Where are the Cleaners?" he asked himself, growing impatient with his associates.

"I am right here," answered Leatherhead, who was a few flights up the staircase; how he got ahead was a mystery. "The others are on their way to aprehend our enemies. I must ask, how do you plan on accessing the Gemstone without Lord Velious' power? As I mentioned earlier, we need it to pass the final barrier."

Kasumi was a bit surpried at Leatherhead's sudden appearance. He quickly regained his cool and replied. "He'll be here. He'd only get mad if he showed up and we weren't here waiting for him." He looked around for a few moments, then said to Leatherhead. "Besides, can't you feel that? That pressure?"

"That I can," Leatherhead answered, "But I was referring to the fact that Velios has become more than he ever was previously, and your former partners seem to have switched sides because of it. A simpleton's best guess would be that he no longer has need for his Daleth, and the others left while they still had the chance." 

"Those cowards..." Kasumi muttered to himself. "That doesn't matter. At least on his side I have a chance of survival. Rebelling would only be suicide. Speaking of rebels, where's you're boss? And Skyrat and the others for that matter?"

Leatherhead stepped down to meet with Kasumi and replied, "As I said before, they are on their way to apprehend our enemies. Any time we can buy will be valuable to our cause."

"All right then. No matter the situation. I have a job to complete. And what of you? Will you be accompanying me?" Kasumi asked Leatherhead.

"Of course," Leatherhead replied, "After all, you need me to breach the final defenses of the gemstone." He looked up towards the top of the smire, the faintest traces of a grin on his face.

"At the moment, I suppose I do," Kasumi replied. "Well then, let's get going." he then continued to ascend the staircase.

"Hold it!" Banzai yelled, standing at the base of the tower and looking up at Leatherhead and Kasumi. Kasumi looked down at the monkey, an expression of pure annoyance on his face. "Oh great. More distractions."

Kleft soon followed, walking up to stand next to Banzai. "What the kid said. You're not gonna reach the top of this tower if we can do something about it."

"Focus on getting to the top," the aligator said, "I'll keep them down here." Slowly Leatherhead began to descend the staircase, the left half of his body beginning to glow with a bright blue wire pattern, similar to V's own powers.

"I was hoping not to waste any energy, but..." Kasumi faded into a hot cloud of mist. Using the properties of water to his advantage, he quickly ascended the massive tower.

"Heh, it's one fight right after the other," Banzai said, pulling out his staff and getting into a fighting stance. "Not that I'm complaining."

Smash stood beside Banzai, looking up at the croc. "I trust that you guys can handle this?" He asked, looking at Banzai and Kleft.

"I hope so. At the very least we'll be able to stall him," Kleft replied. "Right now focus on getting to the top before Aquaman up there!"

Smash nodded, as that was what he intended from the start. "Right. I'll leave this to you." He turned to look behind him, seeing Kyle walking past him.

"Leave Kasumi to me." He said, firmly. He walked up the stairs ahead of them. Smash then began to run up the stairs, followed by Pearl and Inverse David. Splice stood in between Kleft and Banzai, drawing his daggers.

Tsunami stepped inside the building and darted up the steps, flipping over the other heroes when she caught up to them. She kept running until she reached Leatherhead, then vanished and reappeared several steps above him. She continued on up the steps toward Kasumi.

"Not so fast," Leatherhead shouted. He raised his right arm into the air as it shockingly transformed into a cannon. It glowed a bright blue as he fired a shot upward, creating an energy barrier up above, preventing the heroes from advancing. "From this moment until your deaths, you face me and me alone."

Tsunami stopped at the barrier, then vanished again, reappearing at the foot of the staircase. She stepped outside the building and flew straight up, attempting to follow Kasumi from outside the pillar.

Kleft swore under his breath, while Banzai glared at Leatherhead.

"Freaking..!" Smash ran up the staircase as fast as he could, ready to pound Leatherhead's face in. Kyle, on the other hand, rushed back down the stairs. He left the building, and looked up to the top.

"I must find a way to reach the top from here.." He said softly to himself.

"You could always climb to the top," Paroi said, suddenly appearing next to him.

Kyle glanced at him at the corner of his eye. "I suppose. I am not the best climber, but I have little choice." He walked up to the side of the wall, and felt around it for a good grip.

"Wait!" Thunder called out, his eyes lighting up with an idea. "We can use this." He showed the two a grappling hook, which he held over his shoulder. "If we can get this hooked onto the top, then we should be able to climb up with no problem."

Kyle turned around and smiled. "Yes of course. But do you think it could really reach that high?" He asked.

"Yeah. Just leave that to me." Thunder stepped forward, staring up at the top. He let the rope hit the ground, and began to twirl the grappling hook around his side. "Lightning, Electric, Zap, We're all going with him." He ordered. He hurled the hook up towards the sky, seemingly causing an updraft in the air around him. The draft caused the hook to fly far higher than it normally would have, reaching up to the top. "There. Now everyone, let's go."

"Good luck," Paroi said, putting his hands in his long sleeves. "I'll stick around down here where it's nice and quiet. Still recharging my magic. Remember to be careful up there. There's no telling what's in store for us."

Panzyr, of course, merely began to fly to the top, while Gideon used his Wings of Dark Flight to dash to each foothold.

Suddenly, the base of the spire was bombarded with explosions, accompanied by a familiar voice shouting "Bada-Boom!"

Kyle, Thunder and his brothers all took cover. Crystal quickly put up a barrier around them, hoping to shield them from the explosions. "Oh, what NOW?!" Lightning complained.

In a rather exaggerated reappearance, the rest of the Cleaners had returned. Skyrat flew down from the sky, Shades materialized from the ground, Victor appeared in a cloud of shadows, and Burst ran in from the back. The four of them now effectively surrounded the heroes.

"It looks like we have to settle things down here first, whether we like it or not." Electric stated, somewhat annoyed. Kyle and Keela drew their swords, as did Cutter and Silver with their spears.

"Let's just get this over with." Cutter said.

Victor waved his wing, casting a dome of shadows around everyone present. Cracking his knuckles (or whatever a pigeon may have), Skyrat grunted and said, "Alright, kid gloves off. Time to cave some skulls."

Paroi stood protectively in front of Ciel and Levi, knowing that a hard battle was about to be fought. In his current state, all he could do was make sure they didn't get hurt.

"Them again?!" Gideon groaned, perched on top of a small platform jutting out of the wall. Panzyr just grinned, and suddenly swooped down towards Skyrat, fangs bared.

"I've always wanted a taste of pigeon!"

Skyrat smirked. As Panzyr flew towards him, he quickly hopped into the air and grabbed onto Panzyr's horns, using them to swing forward and deal a mighty double kick to his mid-section, his sharp talons adding to the damage.

The demon let out a shriek of pain and anger. Snarling, he whipped his tail upwards, trying to cut Skyrat in the back with the bladed tip. At the same time, he formed a HellFyre claw in his right claw and slashed at the pigeon's chest.

Not wanting to take any unnecessary hits, Skyrat let go of Panzyr's horns and flew away from him. The slash from his tail, however, still managed to catch Skyrat in the leg, causing him to flinch slightly as he flew.

Panzyr, landing back on the ground, opened his mouth and fired a beam of purple-black rings towards Skyrat.

Skyrat quickly dove out of the way of the attack, allowing the beam to be absorbed into Victor's veil of shadow. Then the beam shot back out from another part of the veil, aimed at no one in particular.

Panzyr saw his attack be absorbed and then re-emitted by the veil of shadow. Hmm? he thought to himself. ''It absorbs Dark energy. Maybe if I...''

Concentrating, he began trying to absorb the ambient Dark energy in the air, especially the energy given off by the veil.

The shadowy veil fluctuated a bit, but was generally unaffected by the absorption. Burst joined in the counterattack by bombarding the area with more explosions, appearing to be having a grand ol' time doing so. Panzyr stopped absorbing, frustrated.

"Dammit! At this rate I'll never trigger my Fallen Form...best to do it the old fashioned way, then."

Crystal stood in front of Paroi and Ciel and held up a barrier around her friends, trying to defend against the explosions. Keela drew her bow, keeping close to Crystal, and tried to aim for the nearest Cleaners member.

Kyle had enough now. He held his sword out in front of him, the tip facing the sky. "O Gem of Wind, Lend me thy power..!" He chanted. "Benevolent wind that encircles eternal time, gather before me and become a dividing blade... Cyclone!" With a swish of his blade, a large cyclone began to circle around them, sucking up debris and most of the explosions. Anyone in the air was in danger of getting sucked in as well. Everyone inside Crystal's barrier, however, were unphased.

Thunder decided to add onto the mix, and began to strike at the Cleaners with bolts of lightning from the sky. Electric aimed at them more directly, firing bolts from his bare hands. Lightning and Zap stood close together, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Keela's arrow fired at Shades, but he simply dematerialized back into the ground to avoid it. Burst ceased his explosions to hold himself firmly upon the ground, and Skyrat landed quickly to do the same, flinching from the pain in his leg. Victor whipped up a cloud of shadows to mingle with the intense wind and lightning, greatly lowering the severity of both. Amidst the distraction of the colliding attacks, Shades rematerialized beneath Kyle and dealed a clawed, rising uppercut to his chin.

Kyle reacted instinctively, using the hilt of the blade to bash down on Shades' face on his way up, whilst trying to bear the pain of the claws scratching his chest.

The hit from the sword knocked Shade's sunglasses off, revealing his very strange looking, yet mesmerizing eyes. They glowed a bright reddish-purple, and pierced Kyle's gaze with a powerful hypnotic effect.

Kyle began to feel a strange sensation in his head. But before it could take effect, Lightning and Zap quickly rushed in and attacked from both of his sides. They both bashed their fists against him, their arms charged with electricity.

Under the sudden shock, Shades dematerialized again, ending the hypnotic effect on Kyle. Meanwhile, Burst looked around for new targets, now having some extended freedom with Victor holding the cyclone steady. He saw Tendril and the two Infernas off to the side, not contributing much to the fight. With a smirk, he generated an explosion on their position hoping to rile them up.

Inferna pushed Tendril and her counterpart out of range of the explosion and took the blunt of the attack herself. Tendril pulled himself away from his attempts at figuring out how he would get to the top of the spire, and turned his attention on Burst.

Burst grinned, then charged at Inferna. He threw one arm towards Tendril and Inverse Inferna, generating another explosion on their position, and threw a punch at Inferna with a fist laced in blue flames. Without warning, Panzyr suddenly came shooting down towards Burst like a big hairy bullet. Speaking of bullets, one whizzed past Skyrat's face, dangerously close to taking out his eye.

Inverse Inferna allowed both explosions to hit her, since they would do less to her than to Tendril. Inferna ducked under his fist and scurried away from him, unwilling to fight someone who looked so much like her boyfriend.

Skyrat leaned back, barely avoiding the bullet. He took to the sky again for more maneuverability, though the still-present winds were a bit of a struggle. Burst quickly dodged passed Panzyr and called out, "Shade's take this one! I'm got my eyes on another prize." On the command, Shades rematerialized in front on Panzyr and stared deeply into his eyes with a hypnotic gaze. Burst turned his attention back to the fleeing Inferna and said with a smirk, "What's the matter girly, ya scared?"

Panzyr skidded to a halt and glared at Shades, narrowing his eyes, thinking he was trying to intimidate him. Gideon, meanwhile, pulled out both his Blacktails and used his Wings of Dark Flight to jump from ledge to ledge, trying to get a bead on Skyrat.

"I can't fight you," Inferna stammered, backing away from Burst, "You look too much like my boyfriend."

"Oh really?" Burst replied with a smirk. Slowly approaching Inferna, he continued, "Well then, doll-face, how 'bout you give your boyfriend a kiss?" With a devilish grin stretched across his face, Burst opened his arms and puckered his lips in a taunting way. Inferna gritted her teeth, her fear turning to annoyance. It was clear she didn't appreciate the taunt.

"You're disgusting!!" Seemingly out of nowhere, Violet's fist came flying at Burst's puckered up face from the side.

Kyle let down the cyclone, and began charging up another spell. "O gem of Fire, lend me thy power.."

Thunder and Lightning stood by his sides, backing him up. Keela aimed at Skyrat, and fired another arrow. She quickly fired a whole stream of arrows after him. Cutter and Silver came up from behind Shades and struck at him with their spears.

With surprisingly quick reflexes, Burst caught Violet's punch, his hand still shrouded in blue flames. "Disgusting, huh?" he asked in a cheeky tone, "Oh, you have no idea." As his expression became more sinister, he forcefully bent Violet's hand back, aiming to do serious damage to her wrist. Meanwhile, Skyrat flew back and forth in the air to avoid Keela's arrows, but found difficulty in doing so. He flew upward, but found that route blocked by Gideon. On the ground, Shades fell forward from the simultaneous blows dealt to his back, freeing Panzyr from his hypnotic gaze.

Violet cried out in pain, trying to free her hand from his grasp. Hearing her cries, Electric rushed over immediately. He performed a karate chop laced with lightning on Burst's arm, in an attempt to free her.

Keela soon had to stop, before she wasted all of her arrows. Zap ran off to collect them, trying to avoid contact with any of the Cleaners by sneaking by them.

"O incandescent locus, annihilate the vulgar before me!" Kyle spun his sword around in front of him a few times, before pointing it towards Victor. "Spiral Flare!" In nearly an instant, a large blast of flames shot out of the Gemblade in the form of a spinning fireball towards him. The intensity of the blast caused him to skid back a bit.

Victor noticed the approaching fire blast and waved his wing at it. The spell was suddenly absorbed into a vortex of shadows, which quickly disappeared. He then waved his other wing, and the vortex reappeared next to Burst, causing the blast of flame to fly out at Electric.

Electric gasped when he saw the fireball coming at the corner of his eye. The fireball was big enough to scorch all three of them. He instinctively threw himself over Violet, shielding her from the flames. He gritted his teeth as the fire burned into his back.

Seeing what had happened, Kyle immediately stabbed his sword into the ground. "Cease!" The flames quickly died out in a puff of smoke, before it dealt too much damage to him.

Gideon grinned in an almost wicked manner as he aimed both Blacktails at Skyrat. "Smith and Wesson want to say 'hi'," he said, firing both guns at the same time.

The first shot hit Skyrat in the wing, but the second missed as he dove in pain. Landing on the ground, Skyrat called out to Burst, "Boss, I'm hit!" Burst tossed Violet to the side, putting more strain on her wrist, and ran in Skyrat's direction. "Dammit, man, you pick the worst times," he grunted in frustration.

With Electric still holding onto her, Burst did nothing more than release her. "Are you alright?" He asked her through gritted teeth.

"I-I'm fine..Thank you." Violet stammered, still somewhat shaken up.

Tendril gripped his left wrist in his opposite hand and began focusing all of his power into his left palm. Thin, dark streaks began to swirl around each other a fingerlength from his hand, slowly gaining speed. "Get back, I don't want you to be caught in the blast," he warned Inverse Inferna, who reluctantly obeyed.

Lightning ran up beside Electric and Violet, "Guys, get to Crystal. I'll cover you." He said. The two didn't waste a second to head back.

Keela took the chance to shoot at both Skyrat and Burst with their guards down.

Skyrat clumsily dove out of the way of the shot aimed at him, and Burst jumped back to dodge the other. He turned to Keela and quickly fired off an explosion on her position. Looking around at his teammates, Burst knew he was in trouble. Skyrat had been shot, Shades was out cold, and Victor was busy on support. Still, though, he had no intentions of losing, and knew that he had one last thing to bail him out: Leatherhead. He looked up at the spire, wondering how the aligator was doing up there. "Vic, call it quits. I've got another plan, and it doesn't involve these chumps," he called to his partner. Victor did as he was told and waved his wings. He disappeared in a cloud of shadow, along with Skyrat, Shades, and the veil around the heroes. Burst quickly ran inside the spire, blowing up the doorway after passing through.

"Hey, who're ya callin a chump, ya bloke!?" Lightning yelled back, shaking his fist.

Keela backflipped away from the explosion, though flying farther away due to it, and landed on her feet next to the spire.

"They're getting away!" Violet called out, standing up after letting Crystal heal her and Electric.

"They might need our help inside.." Thunder said. "But for now, we should get to the top as quickly as possible."

"Indeed." Kyle sheathed his sword, looking back at the grappling hook. "It appears to have survived the blasts, though it looks slightly charred."

"It should still be safe." Thunder assured, walking up to it. "This thing's seen worse." He glanced back at Kyle, and nodded. "Let's go."

"We'll do what we can from the ground." Keela said.

"This is not good," Paroi said, suddenly appearing near the group in his usual silent manner. "As we speak, a heated battle is taking place within the tower's base, while the water-user has already made it to the top. Plus, I can feel an ominous energy slowly approaching this area."

"Oh shoot." Lightning looked off into the distance, with a look of fear.

"What should we do..?" Crystal asked, worriedly. Meanwhile, Thunder and Kyle began to climb up the grappling hook's rope as fast as they could.

"Hmm..." Paroi closed his eyes and pondered. "Maybe...we should help the others. Afterall, they may have some trouble dealing with that hedgehog's entire group, and possibly the water user as well."

"But will you two be alright in there?" Silver asked, referring to him and Levi.

"I've recharged a little bit of my power through meditation," Paroi said. "By the way, thanks for keeping those hooligans busy."

"No problem, mate." Lightning replied casually.

"I'm gonna stay out here with Ciel," Levi said. "Wouldn't be of much use in my current state."

"But what about that..ominous energy?" Cutter added. "Who knows what the heck that could be?"

"I have an idea on 'what' it could be," Paroi said, "although fortunately it is quite a ways away, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. What's important now is securing that gemstome."

"If ya say so." Cutter shrugged. He turned around to face the entrance. "Alright, let's finish this."

"You got it!" Violet exclaimed. "C'mon, Crystal! This is our time to shine!"

Crystal nodded, now feeling more confident. "Yes. Let's go!"

The group then headed inside, quickly.

---

Meanwhile inside the tower, the other heroes faced off against Leatherhead.

Banzai, being the impulsive chimp he is, was the first to attack. he jumped impossibly high in order to reach Leatherhead. Once they were level he swung his heavy staff in an attempt to smack him in the face.

Leatherhead raised his right arm to block Banzai's staff, seemingly able to do so with ease, then fired a concentrated laser blast from his right eye, aiming for the simian's chest.

Being so close to the reptile, Banzai couldn't react in time. He took the attack head on, and, grunting in pain fell back to the ground.

"Dammit kid," Kleft said, running over to Banzai. "You really shouldn't be so impulsive." He examined his wound, but to his surprise the laser didn't bore through him, but it did leave a terrible scorch mark on his chest. "Take a break," Kleft said. "After all, it's about time I got some showtime." The bone-like spikes on his arms extended, now slightly longer than his arm. Several spikes also sprouted from his back and his shoulders, ripping his vest to shreds. He swung his arm, and several spikes shot towards Leatherhead.

Leatherhead quickly dashed to the side to avoid the spikes, changing his right arm back to normal in the process. He forcefully dug his claws into the wall as they continued to glow, and a powerful energy shock spread across the inner surface of the spire.

Smash unleashed a blast of his own energy, transforming into his High Tension State as he placed his palm on the ground. He tried to force the energy shock away from him and everyone near him.

Kleft placed his palms on the ground. A second later, several spikes jutted out from the wall where Leatherhead had placed his hand.

Meanwhile, Banzai had recovered, but still held his hand over his chest wound.

Feeling the spike coming from the wall, Leatherhead immediately pulled his claw back, ceasing the energy shock. He then balled his claw into a fist and thrust it forward, sending bolts of energy down upon the heroes in an erratic pattern.

Banzai raised his staff, the emerald colouted gem at the top beginning to glow. As the energy bolts reached near him, the gem appeared to pull the bolts towards it, absorbing them.

Kleft rolled into a spikey ball and started rolling in place at high speeds. The energy bolts seemed to almost ricochet off of him in this state. Then, without warning, he propelled himself towards Leatherhead like a cannonball.

Splice darted towards Leatherhead at the same time, his hands brimming with ice energy. He was ready to back him up in the assault.

Leatherhead looked at his oncoming opponents with a smirk. Halting his energy attack, he opened his hand at caught Kleft in a firm grasp, stopping the spinning instantly. He then turned to the side and used the balled up Kleft to hammer Splice away. All the while, the energy bolts that were still present danced around Banzai, attracted to his staff but refusing to be absorbed by it.

Banzai growled. Thanks to his injury, his movements were limited. He slammed his staff into the ground, using it as a beacon to keep the pesky energy bolts at bay. He then balled up his fists and charged at Leatherhead. Pearl and Inverse David ran by his sides to back him up.

Although his face was invisible while curled up in a ball, Kleft smiled. A few of the spikes on his body shot out towards Leatherhead instantaneosly, while he retracted the ones in danger of hitting Splice. A hint of purple could be seen on the tips of the spikes.

Splice instinctively dropped to the floor and slid under Kleft, aiming to slide and kick Leatherhead's foot. He aimed his hands up and shot several icicles towards his chest and arms.

Kleft's spikes and Slice's icicles collided with Leatherhead's upper body and either bounced off or shattered completely. One, however, did seem to make a small cut in his left arm, but not much else. He threw Kleft at the oncoming foes, and lifted his foot to avoid Splice's kick, stepping back down hard upon his chest.

Already holding his hands up, Splice managed to catch his foot and hold it in place just above his chest. He began to freeze his foot as long as it was in his grasp.

Kleft was flung towards his allies. Pearl and David both extended their arms in front of Banzai, in order to catch him before he rammed into the primate. Thinking quickly, Kleft pointed his hands toward the ground, and extended the spiked on his forearms into the ground to stop himself. Seeing Splice in danger, he rushed to his aid - by spitting a big green loogie, flying at an impossible speed and distance, at Leatherhead's face.

Leatherhead transformed his hand back into a cannon and fired a powerful energy blast at the approaching loogie, all the while putting much weight on the foot that held down Splice. He then aimed the cannon down at Splice, charging its power to deal maximum damage.

"He used all that power...on a bit of spit," Kleft said. "He's not taking any chances." Just then he noticed the small cut in Leatherhead's left arm. It seemed fresh. Kleft allowed a small grin to appear on his face. "It should take effect any moment now..." he said, ominously. The purple liquid on the tips of Kleft's spikes was actually powerful, paralysis inducing venom.

Splice's eyes widened, as he realized he couldn't block it with his hands occupied. "Splice!!" Pearl cried out in horror. Just then, Smash came from behind, locking his arms around Leatherhead's. He threw himself backwards, in an attempt to hurl him over his head Judo style.

Meanwhile Banzai charged up and tossed a fiery green ball of chaos energy at Leatherhead.

Leatherhead stumbled backwards from the sudden force applied by Smash, but managed to keep his balance. The startle caused him to lose his grip on Splice, and misfire his shot, destroying a portion of the staircase. With great force, he flexed his right arm in an attempt to throw Smash off of him, though Smash stood strong. He was forced to give up trying to pull him down though, and just held him in place for the others to attack.

With Leatherhead immobilized by Smash, Kleft rased his arm and fired a few spikes at Leatherhead. These spikes had a hint of green on their tips.

Splice jumped back to his feet after the projectiles whizzed over his head. He followed up with an icy punch to his chest. {C {C Upon contact, Splice's icy punch did little damage, and felt like he was striking solid metal. Leatherhead raised his arm against Smash's efforts and used it to block Kleft's spikes. Banzai's fireball, however, struck his face and appeared to scorch his hide slightly, though he didn't really react to it.

Seriously, what the heck is this guy made of, anyway? Smash wondered, as he pondered his next move. Splice grunted in frustration, seeing his attack barely flinch him. He began rapidly punching him as fast as he could, hoping to deal at least a little more damage.

Banzai rejoiced subtly upon striking Leatherhead, but his joy disappeared seeing that his attack had no effect.

Kleft's spikes rebounded off of Leatherhead's hard scales, and landed on the floor. Strangely, the ground sizzled when the tip of one of the spikes hit it: those spikes were laced with acid. Suddenly, he decided to change strategies. He retracted his spikes, save for a long one extending out from the top of his wrist. "Time for a more direct approach." Kleft then charged towards Leatherhead, brandishing his spike like a sword. WHen he got close enough, he swung the spike, aiming for the reptile's throat.

Splice, upon hearing him approaching, quickly ducked down as to not get hit. Smash leaned his head back, still holding on tightly. {C {C Leatherhead took Splices punches with relative ease, and blocked Kleft's "sword" swipe with his arm, just as he did with the projectile spikes. With his arm raised in front of his face, he saw a light steam rising. Apparanly the green substance from the spikes was taking effect. Angered, he released a powerful energy shock from his arm, likely affecting Kleft since he made contact, and hoping to affect Splice and maybe even Smash as well. Splice fell flat on his back from it, but Smash just grinned and beared it. It wasn't easy though.

Kleft did feel the shock, but it didn't appear to have any effect on him whatsoever. "D'you have any idea where I'm from? You'll find I'm quite resistent to a lot of things, much like yourself," he said, spitting some of the same green substance at Leatherhead's face.

Unable to do more than turn his head to avoid the blow, the green substance struck Leatherhead, covering the right side of his face. It quickly took affect, burning through his hide. Underneath his rough exterior lay a shocking sight; in place of a skull was a metallic frame, shielding the cyan glow of the robotic innards. He turned his head back to Kleft and replied, "You underestimate my intelligence. For you, that was not meant to be an attack."

Splice gasped when he saw his face. "H-he's a robot..!" He exclaimed. Smash's eyebrows shot up in surprise, though he wasn't able to see his face from behind.

Kleft didn't seem too shock upon seeing what Leatherhead really was, although it did surprise him a bit. "So you're a robot after all huh?" He said. "Guess that makes my poison venom useless." Kleft backed away from Leatherhead and retracted his wrist spike, changing strategies once again. He raised his fists and bent his knees slightly, taking up a fighting stance. "Let's see if I can't smash you to pieces." Kleft then rushed back at Leatherhead, raising his fist and intending to land a poweful punch to his face.

Leatherhead took the punch with relative ease, and used the opportunity to grab Kleft by the throat with his right hand, crushing down with an unnaturally powerful grip. However, it felt as if he was gripping incredibly tough stone, and it didn't seem to bother Kleft much. "I feel like we've been here before," he said, with relative ease, despite Leatherhead's hand at his throat. Suddenly, a few spikes, also laced with acid, extended out of Kleft's neck, puncturing the robotic reptile's hand.

Smash finally let go of Leatherhead, and immediately followed up with a powerful bash using both of his clenched fists as a club.

(Please put all further edits below the following two paragraphs Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 05:14, April 2, 2012 (UTC))

Meanwhile, Kasumi stood at the top of the spire, on a circular platform looking up at the glowing red gem floating high above him. He could not go any further: An invisible force prevented him from ascending towards the gem. Seven massive drills made of water tried to bore through the invisible force field from all angles, to no avail. Kasumi was getting more irritated by the second. The water drills stopped spinning and fell back to the earth. He could wait for the Cleaners, although there was a chance that they could be defeated by the heroes. Nevertheless, he sat down on the ground, seemingly meditating, building his power.

His meditation was disrupted by the arrival of two familiar aquaintances. Soshiro and Ibara stood facing Kasumi from the other side of the platform. Without getting up or turning around, Kasumi asked: "What do you trraitors want?"

"What do you think?" Ibara snapped back. "And why are you still with V? Don't you know what's happened?"

"I know fully well the current situation," Kasumi replied. "I chose to stay with V because I have a better chance of survival on his side."

"You coward!" Soshiro yelled at him, just as the tower began shaking.

"Seems like a ruckus is going on downstairs," Kasumi said casually. "I hope your new friends aren't hurt."

Soshiro and Ibara looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Finally, they both decided to help the others, going back into the flower Ibara had created to transport them up here.

Quite a distance from the spire, a young, silver-skinned echidna with pure-white hair slowly walked towards the tall structure. He wore a long sleeved, black sweater, orange-lensed glasses hanging around his neck. He wore black gloves, long, baggy, grey pants and red and white shoes. A wispy, neon green aura constantly surrounded his body, and seemed to repel the environment around him. As he walked, each step left a large foot-print in the ground, despite the fact that he was quite light. Stones rose into the air as he walked by, only to fall once he had passed. He continued to slowly approach the spire, in a zombie-like manner.

---

(Edit here - Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 05:14, April 2, 2012 (UTC))

Leatherhead was forced to release his grip due to the spikes, and the coating of false hide over his arm was punctured, but the arm itself didn't sustain any damage. Smash's attack from behind caused him to stumble forward, but he otherwise didn't move very much. Through the hole he had previously made in the staircase, he saw Burst entering from below, who yelled up, "New plan, big guy. Trash 'n' Dash!" Leatherhead immediately understood the plan, and fired off another energy blast at the staircase near the wall opposite him and the heroes. Burst quickly leaped up the sides and fired off explosions at seemingly random points on the staircase. Together, the two began to take down the entire staircase.

Tendril rose out of the shadows nearby, and began solidifying the shadows beneath the staircase to hold it up. He seemed to be a little irritated at having to cancel the attack he had been charging, but focused his energy on supporting the staircase.

"Damn it!" Kleft cried out. "They're gonna destroy the tower!" He starting firing spikes out of his arms rapidly, trying to shoot down the two Cleaners. Banzai tried to do the same by firing off a barrage of energy waves, while Beat tossed razor discs. Splice frantically threw fireballs at the two, hoping to slow them down.

"What the heck are they getting at, destroying the whole tower!?" Smash yelled in frustration, as he did all he could to try and prevent them.

Burst looked down, disappointed that his explosions were causing less destruction than he'd hoped. Firing two more explosions, one at Tendril and one at another spot on the staircase, he jumped through the barrier previously made by Leatherhead, and continued up the tower.

Leatherhead himself continued to fire his cannon at both the structure and the projectiles approaching him. "You fools understand nothing," he roared, "We have already won. Insects such as yourselves do nothing more than delay the inevitable."

"I wouldn't bet on that," said Ibara, emerging from a large lotus-like flower sprouting from higher up the stairs. Soshiro soon followed. She crossed her arms together, and dozens upon dozens of thick, thorny vines emerged from the walls of the tower and, in an instant, bound Leatherhead and Burst.

"Whoa!" Splice exclaimed, startled. "Normally that'd freak me out but..Nice save!"

Smash stared at the two captured cleaners, already having a bad feeling that it wouldn't last. The others soon made it inside, and were shocked to see all the damage done.

Leatherhead tried to tear out of the vines, the power of his bionic arm greatly aiding in his struggle. Up above the barrier Burst did the same, but was not bionic, so instead he set his arms ablaze with searing hot flames, attempting to burn right through the vines.

Splice couldn't help but smirk at Burst's futile efforts. "Need some help?" He taunted, tossing a fireball up and down.

Leatherhead was making some progress in his efforts; small tears began to appear in the vines. However, from these little cracks leaked a viscous green substance: acid. Ibara had also created several flowers around the vines binding Burst, which absorbed his flames. However, she may have underestimated Burst's strength, as the flowers seemed to be swelling, to the point of bursting.

"What, did you think we were just standing by this entire time?" Ibara said, barely able to contain her smile.

"We've been observing you guys," Soshiro continued, "and setting traps in case any of you tried acending the tower."

"Good work." Inverse David complimented. "We should probably finish them off here, so they won't come after us later."

Inferna stood at the entrance to the spire, staring up at Burst. Come on, get a grip, she told herself silently, shaking her head at the ground, ''He's not my Burst, he's someone else entirely. ''She glanced over at Tendril, who was just now getting up from the explosion Burst had sent his way. ''And besides, he attacked Tendril. The real Burst wouldn't do that without good reason, and I can't let him get away with that.'' She took a step forward, her scarlet fur becoming slightly more vibrant. "I get-" she began, her voice squeaking slightly. She cleared her throat and tried again; "I get Burst."

Leatherhead continued to fight against the vines as more of his false hide burned away under the acid, revealing the bionics of his right arm and most of his torso. However, the rest of him seemed to be affected normally by the acid, like it were true flesh. Up above, Burst continued pumping fire and intense heat into the vines while exploding the walls the vines came from at the same time. He was completely oblivious to the taunting and whatnot down below, and merely kept up his struggle.

"Uh oh," Ibara said to herself, finally noticing that Burst was about to free himself. She was about to create more flowers to contain the flames, but noticed Inferna's resolve and changed her mind. "Looks like you're about to get your wish. He's all yours." The vines stood strong against Burst's attacks. They extended and moved downwards, in an attempt to slam Burst into the ground.

As the vines shot downward, they struck against the energy barrier left by Leatherhead. Burst passed through, however, but his hands were still suspended above by the vines. He yanked downward, trying to pull free using the barrier for leverage. "Yo Leatherhead, little help?" he called down to his partner. "If you've failed to notice, I'm a little preoccupied myself," the gator replied, still struggling against his own vines. He continued to fire off energy blasts since his cannon was still free, but with the rest of his arm bound he couldn't exactly aim, and the shots flew off in random directions.

"So, since these two are pretty much taken care of, how are we supposed to get to the top?" Kleft asked, pointing at the barrier that Burst was now comically stuck between.

"I would transport you guys the same way me and Soshiro got to the top," Ibara said from above the barrier. "However, this thing's interferring with my transportation abilities, which is why we coludn't appear next to you guys."

Inferna stood watching Burst. She flicked her wrist, and a small spark coursed through her palm, but nothing else happened. She tried again, with the same result. "Oh come on, I can't summon my ax here?" she complained. Inverse Inferna summoned her own ax and held it out to Inferna. "You can use mine," she offered, but Inferna declined. "You may need it to defend yourself. I'll be alright without it."

"Need any help Inferna?" Banzai asked.

"Don't forget that we're here too!" Violet chimed in.

"Thank you for the offer," Inferna replied, "But no, I think I can handle this one. I need to quit hiding behind other people in these fights, so I'm doing this one on my own." She glared up at the struggling Burst, and her fur seemed to become slightly brighter as she tightened her resolve.

"If that's how you feel.." Violet looked back at Crystal and Pearl, who both nodded. "Give us a call if you need a hand. We'll be here." She turned all the way around to face the two. "Crystal, see if you can't do anything about that barrier above."

Crystal nodded. "I'll try.." She spoke softly. She closed her eyes and held her hand to her chest as the jewel on her tail began to glow once again.

Inferna glared at Burst for a moment, then began striding up the steps toward him. She flicked both wrists, setting both of her hands ablaze with flames bordering on blue.

Both Cleaners noticed Inferna advancing, and Leatherhead tried to aim his cannon towards her for a shot, but Burst stopped him. "Easy there, big guy. I see what's goin' on here," he said, "Yo Ib (referring to Ibara), how 'bout you let me down? Looks like red-head here wants a word with her boyfriend." The emphasis put on the end of his sentence was very pronounced, and clearly meant to rile Inferna up.

"I have a feeling she's going to give you a lot more than a stern talking-to," Ibara said, releasing Burst form the vines. "In the meantime, seeing as you're no longer part of this fight," she said to Leatherhead, "would you mind releasing this barrier so the rest of us can advance?"

"I don't see why not," Leatherhead replied, "I've stalled the lot of you long enough. Things should already be in motion ." As his statement ended, the cyan barrier previously walling the heroes fizzled out of existance, opening the way upward. Free from the vines, Burst landed down on the steps not too far above the others. He glared down at Inferna, the same devilish smirk stretched across his face.

As soon as the barrier vanished, a large, pink lotus-like flower sprouted at the base of the tower. "Get in you guys," Ibara called out. "I'll take you to the top." Banzai wasted no time at all and sprinted into the flower, Beat and Kleft following in tow.

Smash hesitated a bit, but he knew he had a job to do. "Everyone in." He ordered, leading everyone else in.

"If Inferna's staying, so am I," Tendril replied, "She may not want my help, but I'm not going to stand by knowing that she's fighting this guy on her own." Inverse Inferna took a step toward Tendril, shyly indicating that she was staying too. Inferna glanced back at them, but didn't refuse. She looked back up at Burst, letting the flames around her hands surge up her arms.

Burst shifted his gaze to Tendril and Inverse Inferna, and the grin left his face to be replaced by annoyance and disgust. "If they remain for her, then I remain for my boss," Leatherhead called out, "He and this fire being seem to have already arranged their own duel. If her friends wish to stay, then I shall deal with them personally. Ibara, would you be so kind as to release me from these binds so I may tend to the rodents?"

"Not so fast Leatherhead," Ibara replied. "I only released Burst because he and Inferna have some personal issues to resolve. But, then again..." she looked to Inferna and her friends. "What do you think?" She asked her.

Suddenly, the entire tower started shaking violently. Small bits of the rocky structure broke off and, instead of falling, floated in midair. Several rocks outside started levitating as well and a very faint, green haze could be observed forming outside. A few seconds later, it all stopped as suddenly as it had started.

"Oh no," Soshiro said, a worried look on his face. "He's getting closer." He spoke to Inferna, "You might want to make this duel of yours quick. We don't have much time." He then turned to Ibara and said, "Let the gator go. We need to focus on getting the others to the top."

Ibara had a similar look on her face. "O-okay," she replied. The vines holding Leatherhead slowly loosened their grip, before lowering him to the ground.

"WHO's getting closer?" Smash asked, highly disturbed. "Is it..V?"

"God I hope not," Kleft said, as the flower closed up once everyone was safely inside. It then shrank back into the ground, transporting the heroes to the top of the tower, where another foe awaits.

Tendril turned to face Leatherhead, taking a step toward Inferna. The flames around her arms flickered toward him a little, and the light given off by them dimmed slightly.

Leatherhead relaxed his limbs having been freed, and looked towards Tendril. "I've always wanted to battle one of your kind," he growled. Burst leaned over the railing of the staircase and looked back down at Inferna, grinning once again. He didn't say a thing, but his expression told more than enough.

Tendril watched Leatherhead wearily. After a quick flash of light, his black fur lightened to gray, while his streaks and eyes became a fiery red-orange color. He flicked both wrists, engulfing his hands in gray flames with golden cores. He took up a ready stance mirroring Inferna's, with Inverse Inferna between them, almost cowering.

Burst jumped down a level, crouching down on the railing next to Leatherhead. "You good, big guy? You look a little rough," he whispered the the gator, referring to the false hide which Kleft burned away. "I will be alright, boss," he answered, "I suffered little actual damage. These two pose no greater threat than they did before."

Inferna quickly swung around so she was standing beside Tendril, facing Burst once more. Tendril took a small step away from her. Despite having absorbed the heat from her flames to enter his current state, their intensity was still a little much for him. "You may be wrong about that," he warned Leatherhead, "Before, she had no intention of fighting you guys. But now? Now she's ticked, and not even I have seen her flames this close to being blue."

"Blue? You mean like this?" Burst taunted. He flicked his arm in a very exaggerated motion, causing it to become engulfed in pure blue flames. "You ain't got nothin', sweetheart."

Inferna's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she charged up the steps at Burst, and swung one flame-covered arm right at his head without any hint of hesitation.

Leatherhead stepped aside to allow Inferna through, but Burst simply caught her arm in his left hand, which was now also engulfed in blue flame. Stretching his grin farther than thought possible, he gently said to her, "Boom, baby." As if on a voice command, his hand released a powerful explosion, seemingly more intense than any he had spawned before.

But Inferna didn't seem to be fazed by either being caught or the explosions. Instead, the rage in her eyes only burned brighter, as did her flames when the power of the explosion was added. In her current state, it seemed that any fire-based attack would only be fuel for her own fire. She drew back her other fist, the flames around it now a deep blue due to their heat, then launched it forward, aiming for Burst's abdomen.

Blinded by his own self confidence, Burst hardly saw the punch coming. His smirk was immediately wiped from his face, and he flew backwards at the steps of the staircase from the sheer force of her hit. Leatherhead drew his cannon at her, less concerned about Tendril and I. Inferna, but Burst stopped him with a weak raise of his hand. "N-no... big guy," he muttered, "She... she's fiesty... I like it. She's got a N-nova... with her name on it."

In a bright flash, Burst's body was set entirely ablaze. Through the azure inferno one could see him return to his feet, his body now sleek like cobalt, and his eyes glowing yellow with an evil aura. Much like the Burst that Inferna had grown to know and love, this one had entered his own sick, twisted Nova Mode.

Inferna, in the middle of her own rage, hardly flinched at this sudden increase in Burst's power. She swung her arms to the sides, focusing the flames around her arms into two thin whips of blue fire. She began slashing at the air with her hands, sending the twin tendrils of fire out in front and to the sides. As the tips of the whips brushed the stone wall beside her and the stairs beneath her, the rock softened slightly from the heat. And the vines Ibara had grown to hold the staircase up were beginning to smoke from the combined heat of Tendril's Twilit flames, Inferna's whips, and Burst's Nova Mode.

Burst tilted his head to the side, uttering a distorted laugh as he watched. "Heheh... You'll never get it done like that... Let me help," he chuckled. His firey aura began to shrink down upon him as he leaned forward, but soon exploded in a wave of pure heat. The colossal temperatures completely incinerated the vines, causing the staircase to crumble beneath them. Slightly startled, Leatherhead shot his cannon below him, forming a foothold out of the solidified energy blast. Small pieces of rubble clanged off his metallic structure, doing no noticeable damage but were irritating regardless. Burst remained hovering up above, however, having not moved an inch from his previous stance.

Tendril extinguished the flames around his hands and formed twin wings of shadows on his back. He caught Inverse Inferna and set her down on the ground below, then flew back up to his former position behind Inferna, his hands burning with grey flames once more. Inferna kept herself aloft with small bursts of flame from her feet. She lunged forward, mercilessly snapping the whips at Burst.

With unnaturally quick reflexes, Burst grabbed onto the whips and used them to pull Inferna close. He brought her within inches and stared deeply into her eyes, the piercing amber gaze coupled with his devilish grin and the distorted chuckle that seeped from his mouth formed a vicious expression of lust.

Inferna drew her lips back in a snarl and returned Burst's lustful gaze with a rage-filled glare. It seemed she was no longer tricked by his appearance.

Watching the two gaze at eachother, Leatherhead was unsure whether or not to intervene. He had only seen Burst enter this form once before, and the result was catastrophic. Instead he brought his attention to Tendril and Inverse Inferna, who had yet to join in the fight. Glancing around at the destruction to the tower that he and Burst had caused, he quickly formulated a plan. He raised his right arm into the air, which formed into a strange looking cylinder. It then shot out energy arrows striking various points on the tower walls. His arm then morphed back into its regular cannon form, and he aimed it at Tendril. However, he quickly changed his mind and shifted aim to I.Inferna.

As soon as Tendril noticed Leatherhead aiming at Inverse Inferna, he dashed to the side, hoping to get between the two before Leatherhead could fire. Inferna reshaped her flame whips into blades and begans slashing at Burst with them.

Tendril had succeeded at stepping between Leatherhead an his target, but the gator fired anyways. The blast of azure energy flew like a rocket, headed straight for Tendril. Meanwhile, Burst quickly dodged from side to side, dashing through the air to avoid Inferna's slashes. His distorted laugh rang louder, perpetually mocking Inferna's failed attacks.

Tendril thrust his hands out in front of him, firing a sphere of both shadows and light at Leatherhead's attack in an attempt to stop it from reaching him. At the same time, Burst's mocking only enraged Inferna further, fanning her flames. She continued attacking, channeling her aggression into the blue flames that now surrounded her.

Upon being struck by the darklight orb, Leatherhead's energy blast split into five smaller shots. Each flew passed Tendril and began homing in on Inverse Inferna. Leatherhead grinned, bearing his sharp metallic teeth at Tendril. Burst continued to dodge and laugh, with no end to his madness in sight. "You're quiet the fiesty little devil, aren'tcha?" he chuckled, "Don't worry, sweetheart. We're almost done here."

Tendril hardly even glanced back at Inverse Inferna or the energy bolts. Instead, he was focusing on pushing the darklight orb through the attack, sending it right for Leatherhead. At the same time, Tendril's shadow dropped from him, drew the surrounding shadows into himself to increase his mass, then formed a solid barrier of shadows, blocking Leatherhead's energy bolts. Inferna finally let up and sent herself backward with a small burst of flame. She floated there, panting hard and glaring at her target.

Leatherhead's cannon transformed once more, this time into a sort of energized bat. He quickly swung it at the oncoming darklight orb, hoping to either redirect it or destroy it. Burst stared at Inferna with his same sinister and lustful gaze. "Finished?" he chuckled, "Good... now it's my turn." His right arm became charged with a dark energy, coating the blue flames in an aura of grey. He charged at Inferna with great speed and force, throwing his darkened fist at her to create a powerful blast.

As soon as the darklight orb struck the bat, Tendril released his hold on the sphere, allowing the two opposing elements to expand outward and away from one another in an explosion of blinding light and pure darkness. Inferna, unable to avoid the attack due to her fatigue and Burst's speed, took the blast head-on. Its power sent her flying through the stone wall of the tower, where she hit the ground outside, skidding along the surface for several feet. "Inferna!" Tendril shouted. Leaving his shadow to protect Inverse Inferna, Tendril flew over to the searing hot gap in the wall and looked out at his friend. Inferna was laying on the ground outside, motionless. Her flames, however, seemed even larger than before.

Leatherhead lurched backwards from the force of the blast and growled as he saw Tendril escape to help Inferna. "Blast it. This rodent is more powerful than my previous calculations of shadow-beings," he grumbled to himself. Looking up at Burst he called out, "Boss, I've decided we're to move onto the Sigma Phase. Do what you must, but keep them down here!" Burst gave no discernable response, but the gator knew he had heard and understood.

A button had revealed itself on Leatherhead's forearm, which he quickly pressed. In an instant, the energy arrows he had previously shot into the walls of the tower now began to implode, creating minuature black holes. They drew in and obliterated the walls around them, and fizzled out of existance afterwards. Leatherhead then shot a blast up the tower, and one at the stairs next to him. The latter opened a rift, linking to where the former had impacted. He stepped into it and disappeared from sight, while Burst hovered amongst the energy implosions, charging more dark fire energy into his body.

Inferna managed to climb to her feet outside, her rage at being unable to avoid Burst's attack fueling her flames. She released a blast of flame behind her, launching her up through the hole she had made in the wall. Tendril was barely quick enough to get out of the way before she plowed through. She turned to face Burst, not even noticing that Leatherhead was gone.

Burst cracked his neck back and forth a couple of times, grinning down at Inferna. "Heh... Now the real fun begins, hot-stuff," he chuckled, "We're almost done here."

Inferna gritted her teeth and launched herself straight at Burst, bringing her aura of fire with her. Realizing that there was nothing he could do to stop her or calm her down, Tendril decided to help instead. He flew around behind Burst and charged him as well, surrounding himself in gray flames.

With a mighty flex of his arms, Burst released another Black Burn in the form of an energy explosion. His aim was to force Tendril and Inferna downward, something that would be easy with such a powerful anti-fire attack.

Inferna, unable to do anything about the Black Burn, took the attack head-on, the blast sending her back toward the ground. Tendril, however, retaliated by allowing his twilit flames to disperse and surrounding himself with a veil of light and shadows. He spun rapidly, turning the veil into a large drill, attempting to power through Burst's attack.

Burst held back Tendril's rush with one hand, but had to apply the second as well from the sheer force. With the energy arrows in the tower walls gradually reducing it to nothingness, time was running out. There was no time to wait for Leatherhead's second signal, now was the time to act: take them out in one swift blitz. Since his hands were occupied, Burst dealt a double-kick to the drilling Tendril, laced with powerful explosive energy.

The attacks on the drill pushed it off course, but wasn't enough to leave much more than a large dent in the thick walls of twilight surrounding Tendril. Within the twilight drill, Tendril smirked inwardly at Burst's attempts at getting rid of him. You want an explosion? he thought silently, Let's see how you handle this one. Tendril curled into a ball, gathering the light and shadows of the drill into one concentrated sphere. He then released the opposing energies. But this time, instead of simply letting them expand outward on their own, he reversed the pull of his power, now pushing the light and shadows away from himself. This extra boost of repulsion made the resulting Twilight Blast even larger and more dangerous.

Burst tried to throw Tendril away, but was unable to do so quickly enough and was thrown back by the twilight blast. He hit the wall hard, just barely missing one of the energy arrows that had imploded above him. He looked to his side and saw another embeded in the wall. Thinking quickly, he tore it out and threw it at Tendril, having first powered it up with the fires of his Black Burn. Speed it up, big guy, he thought, I'm running out of options here.

Seeing the arrow coming, Tendril dropped down below it. Almost immediately, Inferna shot up off the ground, covered in flames, aiming straight at Burst.

The energy arrow imploded once it had reached Tendril's previous position, threatening to pull him into the temporary black hole along with the air around it. After seeing Inferna approaching, Burst smashed his fist against the wall behind him, causing it to crumble. He fell back with it to the tower's exterior, hoping to avoid Inferna's charge. Now with a chance to look around, he saw just how much damage had been done to the tower. It was nearly gone now, and rubble began to fall on both the inside and outside.

Tendril immediately began flapping his shadow wings vigorously in an attempt to break free of the arrow's pull. His shadow, still merged with the other shadows and protecting Inverse Inferna, sent half of his current mass out to help pull Tendril away from the miniature black hole. Inferna flew out of the hole in the wall, then performed a quick half-somersault in midair, redirecting herself back at Burst. Releasing another blast of flame from her feet to power her forward toward her target.

((Xi - What do you say we join the others?))

Burst was in need of a new plan, and quickly. He looked all around of something else to use, when he saw the heroes below. With a grin, he flew down towards them, making sure Inferna was tagging along behind him.

((I was just wondering when we'd be doing that))

Inferna followed at top speed, unwilling to let her target escape. With the added help of his shadow, Tendril managed to escape from the pull of the black hole. He followed Burst and Inferna, but needed a burst of his own twilight flames to keep up.

Kasumi was still meditating as a large flower suddenly bloomed behind him, releasing several of his enemies. Banzai quickly jumped out, followed by Kleft and Beat.

"So I guess they couldn't stop you," Kasumi said, without turning around. "No matter. At least now I have something to do."

As Smash and the others stepped out, Kyle and Thunder finished climbing to the top. "So, we meet again." Kyle greeted, as Thunder pulled up his rope.

Kasumi stood up, and turned around to look at his enemies. "You do realize the futility of your efforts, don't you?" he asked. He pointed towards the distance, at something behind them. "Look at that."

From the top of the tower, far off into the distance, they could all see what appeared to be a large, errie, neon green flame, slowly but surely approaching the structure.

"Even if you do somehow manage to defeat me and the Cleaners, do you think you can deal with that?" he asked. His long hair and his high collar obstructed most of his face, leaving his right eye visible. However, the look in his eye held all kinds of feelings: resolve, malevolence, and fear.

Seeing the fiery figure approaching caused a number of the group's hearts freeze. "I-..Is that V..!?" Violet gasped.

"Hard to say..b-but it does have the same color as that energy sphere he caused while fusing with Wes.." Pearl said.

Smash shook his head. "If you're implying that we should stay on that thing's good side, to me THAT sounds like a futile effort. I don't think that thing has a good side."

"So either way, we will have to fight." Kyle said. "There is no getting around it. Therefore we will not waste our time on second thoughts on the matter."

Kasumi did not reply. Instead, he shot his arm forward. A large wave of water blasted out from it, threatening to send the heroes toppling over the edge of the tower.

Kyle immediately drew his sword, and slashed down against the wave. The water parted where he struck, and split up to pass the heroes doing little more than sprinkling them. The Gem of Water glowed brightly on the Gemblade. Everyone else got into a battle stance.

Kasumi clenched his fist, save for his index and middle fingers, which he moved in a 'come here' gesture. The water which Kyle had parted turned around and came back at the heroes from behind, forming into two spears of ice.

Splice whirled around to face each ice spears, and caught them both in mid-air. He began to fuse them with his own ice powers, taking control of the spears for him to use for himself.

Violet and Pearl took the chance to spring forward, aiming to punch him in the face simultaneously.

Kasumi took both punches. However, Violet and Pearl's fists began to sink into Kasumi's body, as he changed into a large sphere of water, trapping both Violet and Pearl within a swirling ball of torrents.

Panzyr paced around Kasumi, growling. If he used fire, he could possibly boil Kasumi's body, but the extreme heat it would cause would harm Violet and Pearl at the same time.

Pearl and Violet tried to escape the ball, but were incapable of moving against the torrent. Even Violet, who was an excellent swimmer, fell helplessly to the trap. Smash ran towards them, and thrust both of his fists inside. The two girls grabbed each hand as they passed by, and he yanked them both out. Splice stepped forward, and jabbed the aqua ball with the two ice spears. The water began to freeze up almost immediately.

"Heads up; that ice ball's gonna go boom!" Gideon yelled as he pulled out a grenade, gesturing for Splice to move out of harm's way.

Splice nodded with a grin, and backflipped into the air. "Fire away!" He yelled. He held both of his hands outward, as they burst into flames. He was ready to attack at the same time to boost the effect.

Quickly yanking off the grenade pin, Gideon hurled the grenade at the big ball of ice, while Splice fired a blast of flames down at it before falling back down to the floor. The combination of the two projectiles caused a large explosion.

The force of the explosion blew the heroes backwads, and shattered the ball of ice that was once Kasumi. The shards of ice flew out in all directions, some over the edge of the tower, others flying straight at the heroes.

"Is that really it?" Banzai asked.

"I have a feeling that this isn't over," Kleft said, still in a battle stance.

"It isn't." Smash stated. "That can't be it. Stay alert!"

Sure enough, the countless shards of ice stopped in midair, transforming into mutiple spearheads, and fired themselves at the heroes from all directions.

Crystal quickly rose her hands into the air, forming a crystal shaped barrier around them to shield them from the ice shards. Splice began to shoot flames out of one side of the barrier, melting some of the ice coming at them.

Panzyr spewed fire from his mouth at the shards coming towards him, while Gideon used Dark Shroud to disappear into the floor, barely dodging the shards.

((Sorry for the delay. I was busy for the past few days Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 22:22, May 5, 2012 (UTC)))

Meanwhile, above the heads of the heroes while they were distracted, the clouds appeared to be forming a massive, funnel like structure, which began to descend onto the tower.

The first one to notice it was Zap. He stared up in shock, which soon grew into terror. "G-Guys..!" He pointed up at the funnel, which was directly over the center of the barrier; over Crystal's head. Lightning and Smash looked up and immediately knew they were in danger.

"Heads up!" Lightning cried out. Crystal tried to strengthen the barrier, but neither one of them knew what it was; or what action to take against it. Splice tried to aim his flames towards it, but he wasn't sure what good it would do.

The funnel continued to descend onto the tower, undisrupted. The heroes could feel a force pulling them upwards, which got closer as the swirling tornado of clouds got closer to the top of the structure.

"I think we're going for a ride, you guys...!" said Gideon, looking up towards the funnel.

Kasumi, his torso floating above the clouds, continued to pull in the heroes using the swirling vortex of water. It seemed as though the heroes were helpless against his assault, until Kleft had an idea. "You there, hedgehog with the magic sword," he said to Kyle, "What would happen if this whole thing suddenly froze?"

Kyle's eyes lit up. "Of course...He is only able to manipulate the clouds due to the water particles within them!" He realized. "Gem of Ice, Lend me thy power!" He rose his sword up to his face as usual. "Freezing winds, Speak of forgotten truths..! Ice Tornado!" Kyle rose his sword above his head, as a large, freezing whirlwind of ice surrounded the barrier. It increasingly grew larger as it rose up to meet the cloudy water vortex.

As expected, the giant vortex began to immediately freeze over, stripping it of its powerful suction and stopping the heroes from being sucked into it. Now landed firmly on the ground, Kleft immediately swung his arm, firing several bone-spikes tipped with purple venom into the massive ice structure. The spikes lodged themselves near the top of the funnel and, aside from cracking it slightly, had no effect.

"Blizaga!" Soshiro shouted, as the gigantic ice structure began to shatter and collapse upon itself, forming into a massive ball of ice as Soshiro brought his hands together, with Kasumi presumable trapped in the center. However, Kasumi reappered above the giant ice ball, surprising Soshiro, and kicked it downwards towards the heroes, and threatening to destroy the entire tower and those waging battle within it.

"Holy crap! It's gonna crush us all!" Lightning cried out.

"Not if I can help it." Smash clenched his fists, and let out a loud battle cry. "URRGHII!!" A blast of energy surrounded him, and launched him up into the air as he transformed back into his high tension state. He flew all the way up to the ball of ice, and pushed against it with all his might. He struggled to stop it in the air, repeatedly sending blasts of energy through his body to propel himself up against it.

Seeing the incoming ball of ice, Kasumi raised his fist, and rushed into it, punching the surface of the mass. It shattered into countelss pieces and rained down over the heroes standing on the tower. The explosion blew Smash back down to the ground, and he landed hard on his back. As the shards fell, their shape changed, gradually becoming sharper, to the point of resembling spearheads. The ice blades rained down on the heroes, threatening to skewer them. Fortunately, several thick vines shot out from all over the tower, blocking the majority of the shards by forming a sort of net over the tower. Beat also helped blocked the shards by creating a large blue barrier around them, although the shards left noticable cracks in the dome-shaped barrier.

"He's just stalling..." Beat suddenly realized, as the green flame came closer and closer to the tower with every passing moment. "Guys, I think we should focus on getting that gemstone," he said to anyone who was listening.

"You're right," Soshiro said, "And there's more than enough of us here to deal with Kasumi and this barrier around the stone."

"Are you suggesting we split up?" Kleft asked the two.

"That may not be such a bad idea," Beat said. "Seeing as 'that'-" he nidged in the direction of the apporaching green inferno "-is nearly upon us, we may not have the time to fight Kasumi off and then work on getting the gemstone. If some of us were to lead Kasumi away from the tower, probably to a larger battlerfield, while the rest of us worked on the gemstone, we just might be able to get out of this mess. Anyone agrees?"

Smash slowly stood up, his form fading. "Sounds like it's all we got for now." He said.

Suddenly, the ground began shaking. Loud crumbling sounds could be heard, and the tower seemed to be sinking into the ground.

"What the--" Kleft explained as he struggled to regain his balance.

"W-What's going on..!?" Splice exclaimed, wobbling back and forth.

"It looks like our friends downstairs have damaged the tower!" Beat said as the tower suddenly jolted, causing him to nearly fall.

"Does that mean that the tower will collapse?!" Pearl asked, holding onto Crystal and Violet's arms.

"Judging by the shaking and the fact that we're sinking...I'd say yeah. We need to get out of here," Soshiro said.

A large, smooth vine sprouted out from the ground below, and bent and attached itself to the top of the tower, forming a slide of sorts to the ground. "Come on!" Ibara said, motioning for the others to follow her as she jumped onto the vine-slide and slid to the bottom.

"But what about the Harmonia Gemstone?" Splice called out.

"We'll think of something later. We're all dead if we stay here!" Smash yelled back as he ushered the others onto the vine. "Come on!"

Each person ran off towards the vine, sliding down in single file. Smash stayed by the side of it, making sure everyone got on safely. Kleft did the same. The tower's shaking and sinking was growing worse by the second.

Meanwhile, at the base of the tower, Levi, Ciel watched the chaos from afar. Tendril and Inferna's battle with the Cleaners; the others hurriedly escaping the collapsing tower: they had a perfect view of it all, and the sights were not pleasant. "This is not good," Paroi said.

"No kidding," Levi said, his eyes glued to the action.

"I wasn't speaking of what's happening over there," Paroi said. He flexed his fingers a few times, finally feeling his magic returning. A few sparks danced out from his fingertips. "The air's becoming more dense. Can't you feel it?"

"Y-yeah," Levi replied, "but I preferred to ignore that for the time being." Ciel clung to Levi for protection at the mention.

The emerald flame that was V/Wes was now dangerously close to the area where the tower once stood.

Ibara gracefully landed on the ground at the end of her slide, and quickly moved out of the way as her companions followed. Banzai landed right on his feet, but Beat humorously came and crashed into him, spoiling his perfetc landing. Soshiro jumped off at the last minute, avoiding the two collapsed bodies at the end of the slide.

"So, now what?" he asked no one in particular.

Splice practically dove down the vine, and just barely managed to get off without tripping over Banzai and Beat. "Guys! Are you all okay!?" A voice called from above. Gizmo had finally returned with all of the chao, flying on his Jet Board. He hovered down in front of the vine and hopped off. "What happened here?"

"Uh, long story," Kleft replied, helping Banzai and Beat to their feet as Smash slid down beside him. "So, where'd you run off to?"

"Eh, that's a bit of a long story, too." Gizmo replied, sheepishly. "But basically I had some trouble rounding up all the chao." He looked over at the collapsing tower. "Now what do we do?"

"You die," Kasumi said eerily, hovering high above the group. His hand was raised into the air, and floating above him appeared to be a massive torrent of clouds and water, swirling vigorously enough to tear through solid rock. Without waiting for an answer, he made a throwing motion with his hand, causing the destructive vortex to fly at the heroes: "Monsoon Javelin!"

Seconds before Kasumi's attack struck, Tsunami materialized in front of it, holding her hands up toward the vortex. She immediately began gathering up as much of the moisture in the air around her as possible and pulling it all between herself and the torrent, attempting to raise a shield of water large enough to at least slow it down.

Annoyance was clear on Kasumi's face when Tsunami appeared. He also began manipulating every bit of liquid and moisture he could find around him, focusing it all into a large jet of water and aiming at his Monsoon Javelin, pushing it forward and increasing its force.

Tsunami closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them once more, the whites now cyan and the pupils now dark blue. At the same time, orange, flame-patterned markings began to spread from just behind her left shoulder, soon stopping and fading to black.

With Tsunami holding him back, Smash made sure everyone got away from him safely. He looked on back towards the two, and frowned worriedly. "This could get messy, but I suggest we let Tsunami handle him for now." He said, turning back to the others. "We need to figure out how we're gonna go about dealing with the gemstone, and what we're gonna do about...THAT." He pointed off towards the green flaming figure, who was almost too close for them to ignore any longer.

Seeing that Tsunami was unwilling to let up, Kasumi changed tactics. The stream of water he was firing into his attack abruptly froze, forming into a long chain of solid ice. The massive, drill-like mass of water he had fired at the heroes also froze, attaching to the end of the chain. He then twirled and swung the chain skilfully, sending the giant blade of ice flying towards the heroes, scarring the ground in the process.

"INCOMING!" Banzai screamed out as he quickly jumped out of the giant blade's path. Kleft and Beat both did the same, narrowly dodging the attack.

Tsunami stared up at the blade, her lips parted slightly in surprise. She quickly regained her composure and closed her eyes, focusing her energies into the air around her. The temperature dropped slightly as a small, red aura surrounded her, seemingly coming from the air around her and being drawn inward.

Suddenly, from up above came a rain of blue flames. Burst was flying down in a massive fireball, speeding away from Tendril and Inferna who were both in hot pursuit (badum tish). As he approached the heroes and villain down below he shouted, "Who's up for a good ol' fashion barbeque?!"

At the sound of Burst's voice, Tsunami glanced up and smirked. She began absorbing the blue flames that came too close to her, drastically speeding up her transformation. With Kasumi's ice in such close proximity to her, it would have taken a minute or two to enter her Steam Form, but now that Burst was here, it took just seconds.

"Argh, you people!!" Smash growled loudly. "Gimmie a break already!" He and Crystal got in position to defend the others from whatever attacks may come.

Seeing the newcomers, Kasumi expertly maneuverd the chain between his fingers and hands, sending the giant ice blade flying into the air. At the peak of its arc, however, the blade, along with the chain, split in half, forming into two massive ice blades. Playing the chain between his hands again, Kasumi flung one ice blade towards Burst, and the other towards Tsunami.

Tsunami raised one hand, filling its palm with flames. She caught the blade aimed at her and channeled large amounts of heat into it.

Burst charged himself with explosive energy and barrelled towards the other blade, aiming to destroy it.

((Xi - I don't mean to be a spoil-sport, but aren't they both hundreds - if not thousands - of degrees hot right now? As powerful as Kasumi is... ice melts.))

((Shoot lol. Forgot about that little factor. Change of tactics then))

''Damn. They're both pretty efficient fire-users. Ice is now out of the question, and I'm not sure how effective water will be''...Kasumi considered the situation at hand, as his ice blades began to melt at the hands of Burst and Tsunami. It looks like there's only one option...With a snap of his fingers, Kasumi's ice blades exploded into piles of snow, which quickly transformed into massive clouds of steam. "It's been a while since I've used such a technique," he said to his opponents. The massive steam clouds moved towards Kasumi, enveloping him in what appeared to be an armor made of highly compressed water vapour. Kasumi's hair, clothes and body were now entirely white, completely covered by the steam, and only seemed to get thicker as he drew in more moisture from the ocean air.

Tsunami waved her hand to the side almost casually, causing the steam to dissipate. "Steam Form," she said with a smirk, "Gotta love it."

Surprisingly, Kasmui's entire body seemed to vanish with the steam. I think I've said this before, his voice rang through the air, but you can't out-manipulate me, especially with such high-pressured steam. Kasumi's pure white body simply reformed some distance closer to Tsunami. "Try me," he taunted.

"As non-threatening as he looks, I think he's got something up his sleeve," Beat warned. "After all, he is a Daleth." Tsunami's grin vanished, replaced by an irritated snarl. She raised one hand, light blue electricity coursing up her forearm.

"Allow me to tell you a story," Kasumi started. "You see, I am from a race of beings known as 'Aquarions'. To be frank, I am made up entirely of concious, living water. The only one who can bend the water I use is myself, since it is my own body. In addition, unlike you beings who have a more or less definite mass, Aquarions can freely change their mass by aborbing water. However, no matter, how much water we absorb, we never visibly grow or change form. This is because we always keep the water in our bodies highly compressed to unthinkable degrees. This is partially why I'm not translucent - light cannot pass through me."

"Why are you telling us this?" Beat asked, genuinely intruiged.

"To give you an idea of what you're up against. Now, most Aquarions have a limit to the amount of water their bodies can hold. Usually we only have enough water to fill a large lake. I however, was always a special one, as I was able to hold a lot more. Thanks to V's blessing, I am now able to hold enough water in my body to fill oceans. Now, imagine all of that water, compressed into my dimminutive form, and only growing larger as I absorb more water from this wonderful ocean around us."

"Sounds like a pretty big conductor to me!" Tsunami's voice rang out. But it wasn't Tsunami who'd said it. In fact, she immediately turned around to see who had said it. Floating behind her, Advanced Ocean Eye active, cyan electricity surging over her entire body, looking more than a little ticked off, was Aquella.

"In my water form, maybe, but as a living cloud of steam, you'll just turn me into a thunder cloud," Kasumi remarked. "On second thought, go ahead. I haven't got a chance to use electricity in a while and I can't generate it myself."

"I don't care about a wannabe Water Being like you," Aquella snarled back, "My beef's with them." She glared down at the other heroes on the ground. Specifically at Paroi. Paroi simply gave a sly smile in reply.

Ignoring her comment, Kasumi replied, "Do whatever you want, little girl. Just stay out of my way." He then casually flicked a pure white ball of presumably steam, which floated nonchalantly in the direction of Tsunami.

Meanwhile, Burst looked back and forth between Tsunami, Aquella, Kasumi, and the heroes. Some many targets, none more likely to choose over the other. Kasumi was technically still his ally, he wouldn't be able to take all the heroes on at once (which he would never admit), and the two Tsunami's would rip him in half... unless... "Hey, blue babe!" he shouted to Aquella. Then he activated a Black Burn again, but didn't fire it off. "Y'see this? Go for the Undertow!" This better work, or I'm toast, he thought.

Aquella shot a look at Burst, seemingly still irritated at him ditching her in the middle of a fight. But she decided to shrug it off for the time being, raising her hand and charging up an Undertow. After all, it wasn't like she'd needed his help in the first place. She had still been doing well after he'd left. Tendril had stopped by this point, glancing between Burst and Aquella, dismayed to realize they were still working together.

Paroi abandoned his usual stoic demenor and mockingly asked Aquella: "Still sore about the last time we met?" His hands were noticably glowing pure white. Aquella snarled down at Paroi, resisting the urge to fire the Undertow at him. Paroi smirked back at Aquella, and continued taunting her. "Then again, I wasn't even at full strength back then. I wonder how quickly you'll fall this time?

Kasumi was growing impatient, and decided to make the first move. He raised his pure-white arm, and pointed his index finger at Tsunami. Flying at blinding speed, a pure-white sphere shot out of Kasumi's finger like a bullet, heading right for Tsunami. As soon as the sphere left his finger-tip, Tsunami vanished in a flash of light, reappearing several feet away.

"You're slow," Kasumi said, now standing back to back to Tsunami, the dark patch of grey that was his mouth twisted in a grin. The white sphere changed direction ad continued heading in Tsunami's direction.

"And you're too close," Tsunami replied. She dissolved into steam just long enough for Kasumi's attack to pass through her. Then, taking the idea from Burst and Aquella, she thrust an Undertow of her own back at Kasumi. Tthe attack phased right through his body, as if passing through a cloud. Tsunami could feel an enourmous weight pressing down on her hand the moment it entered Kasumi's body, a weight that only grew heavier as his body reformed, threatening to break her hand due to the immense pressure.

Tsunami immediately vanished in another flash of light, instantly reappearing several feet away. Further away, Tendril began charging up another twilight bomb, hoping that Kasumi was too distracted by Tsunami to notice. Inferna flew up behind Burst, swinging her fire-laced arm down in a punch aimed for the back of his head, while Aquella merely floated there, Undertow in hand, scanning the heroes on the ground for a target.

((Meh, I got left behind.~Smash The Echidna~  http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100421224452/sonicfanon/images/0/04/Smash_life.png 18:56, June 4, 2012 (UTC)))

"All this fighting is getting us nowhere, fast." Smash grumbled to himself. "We've gotta do something..." He looked back at the green, flaming figure approaching slowly. "He's getting far too close..They're all just stalling us...!"

"Smash, Splice.." Gizmo whispered. Splice backed up towards the two, and leaned his head back to listen. "You guys still have the Force Phaser with you?"

"Got it." Splice nodded, patting his pocket.

"Good. You need to get up there to the Harmonia Gemstone.." He whispered back. "Here, take these." He handed them both the two pairs of Magic Wings. "The rest of us will try to form a distraction, and keep them all held down, while you two get up there and see what you can do!"

Smash and Splice exchanged glances and nodded. "Right. Let's get into position, Splice. We'll both go from two different directions." Smash said. The two split up, silently making their way to either side of the crumbling tower, while Gizmo watched the battle ensue in front of him.

"Gizmo, you're a smart one," Kleft said, walking over to the cat. "Any strategies in mind?"

Part 11: Isla de Los Diablos
Kasumi's eyes darted back and forth between his opponents. Burst appeared to be occupied, thanks to Inferna, and Tsunami he was certain he coud handle. As for Tendril, his abilities were the only ones that were a mystery to him. He waved his hand in Tendril's direction, causing the latter's vision to gradually blur as a cloud appeared around his head, slowly getting denser and heavier, and making it harder to breathe.

Tendril abruptly vanished in a sudden cloud of shadows, which quickly dispersed. It immediately reformed into Tendril not far from where Tsunami was floating. "I was wondering if you'd gotten that one yet," Tsunami commented casually. Tendril shrugged, "Yeah," he replied, "Understanding and copying are the easy parts. Finding a time to use what I've copied is harder."

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking." Gizmo said, in response to Kleft. "Our top priority is to get to the Harmonia Gemstone, really. But these guys are getting in the way and wasting all of our time."

"They're just stalling us." Thunder added. "V, or whatever that thing is, is getting closer within every second."

"Right. But, I have Smash and Splice trying to sneak up to the gemstone while the others are fighting. I think for now we need to make sure all of our enemies are preoccupied. There's more than enough of us to keep each one busy. But how long we'll last against them is anyone's guess." Gizmo looked back at Kleft and Thunder. "Still though, I don't know if those two alone can handle the Gemstone. I'm pretty sure we needed something in particular, but I can't remember what..." He tapped his forehead, desperately trying to think.

"Oh wait!" Kleft desperately fiddled through his pockets until he pulled out a small rectangular device. "Levi's APD. Almost forgot I had it. This thing's our only ticket out of here, well, once we get that stone."

"Aha!" Gizmo snapped his fingers. "That's what I'm thinking of."

"You know," Beat said, "that barrier around the stone's pretty much impenetrable..."

"Yeah, thanks for the insight," Banzai replied, sarcastically.

"But is it possible to go around it? I'm just guessing, but what if it's just an outer shell, with the inside empty?" Beat suggested.

"An outer shell..?" Gizmo's eyes lit up. "Yes..That sounds plausible. If that's the case, then there MIGHT be a way to get through it...At this point I'm pretty doubtful that the Force Phaser will have any effect on it." He turned around, folding his arms and closing his eyes. "So lets see...If the Harmonia Gemstone is, essentially, the opposite of the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald, is it not possible that it may have a reaction to Chaos Energy of the opposite type?" He asked himself. "Back when Smash and Speedy went to the parallel alternate dimension of our Mobius, the Chaos Emeralds had a powerful reaction when they came in contact with their opposites, and even opened a portal to the other side...If we apply that theory here, then it's possible that if we used a chaos emerald on the Harmonia Gemstone, something similar may happen. But we don't have a Chaos Emerald, is the thing. I wonder if the Power Crystal has enough to make a difference..."

Tsunami's ear twitched at the mention of Chaos energy. "You take care of him. I'll be back in a moment," she muttered to Tendril, then proceeded to float down to Gizmo and the others. "If it's Chaos energy you need, I think I can help," she said.

"Really?" He asked, surprised that he even got Tsunami's attention.

"My body's practically flowing with Chaos Energy too," Banzai said, glad to be of some help.

"Well, That's great. Listen, I have a theory about the Harmonia Gemstone." He began to repeat the plan for those who hadn't heard. "In short, we may be able to get through the gemstone's barrier if we use Chaos Energy on it, which is technically the opposite type of energy the gemstone has. I'm thinking a powerful surge of Chaos Energy should at least give off a reaction of some sort."

"So...just shoot it?" Banzai asked.

"Sounds easy enough," Tsunami replied.

"Basically, yeah." Gizmo said, shrugging. "It shouldn't harm the gemstone itself, since that's what the barrier's up there for. Anyway, you guys should hurry; Smash and Splice are probably already on their way up, and they won't be able to handle it themselves."

Banzai raised his hand to the gemstone, palm facing outwards. Bright, yellow-green energy began radiating from it. "Ladies first," he said, winking at Tsunami.

Tsunami gave Banzai an irritated look in response to the wink. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to the gem. She closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again as a wave of color washed over her fur, changing the blue to yellow and the cyan to pink. The new being standing beside Banzai lifted her arms and aimed at the Harmonia Gemstone. "Chaos Beam!" she called out, her voice completely different from Tsunami's. Twin bolts of cyan-colored chaos energy lanced out of her palms and heading right for the gemstone.

Smash and Splice had already begun to fly up to the Gemstone, and soon saw the beam heading towards it. Looking down at where it came from, they saw Tsunami and Banzai, right in front of Gizmo and Kleft. They began to fly faster, hoping to reach the Gemstone before anyone else decided to butt in.

"Show off," Banzai remarked, before unloading his own barrage of yellow-green chaos energy bolts on the barrier.

A strange thing happened as the energy approached the invisible barrier. The areas where the energy was about to hit the shield turned bright pink for a moment, and appeared to stretch outwards towards the beams of energy. The pink bumps grew larger and larger as the energy approached, eventually tearing off of the barrier completely, flying towards the beams of energy and leaving several holes within the barrier, which immediately bgan to fill up once the beams had passed through. As Gizmo had predictied, the beams had no effect on the Gemstone, merely phasing out once they got close enough. Although one thing was clear: Chaos energy seemed to have a magnetic effect on the barrier.

"Oooh..." Kitty watched, holding his hand above his eyes.

"Did you see that..?" Thunder asked, wide-eyed. "It looks like your theory works."

"Yes...But the barrier resealed itself." Gizmo said. "Which means...once you hit it, someone has to be right there to go in through with the APD as soon as possible." He looked at the group. "This'll require precise timing..."

"Yeah," the girl in Tsunami's body replied, "I can probably go up there with the device and blow my own hole in the barrier."

"Yeah, but we should try to be careful." Gizmo said. "No doubt that blast and the effects caught people's attention..." He looked around at the battles in front of them, trying to see if anyone noticed.

((Xi - *sigh* Oh well, I suppose I haven't missed my mark quite yet.))

((Ryu-Bah, I totally didn't contribute anything. Made Gideon and Panzyr look like lazy ba*****s >.>))

"Believe me, you've already drawn the wrong attention," said a familiar voice. Leatherhead stepped out from the shadows of the tower's rubble, approaching the gemstone. "If you'll all excuse me, I have a barrier to deactivate." Once more his cannon changed shape, this time forming a sort of prong with an odd looking crystal in its center. It began to spin, crackling with energy. Though caught up by Inferna's onslaught, Burst was able to notice Leatherhead's reappearance. "Finally!" he shouted, "Sorry, hot stuff, but I'm out of here," he then broke away from Inferna's attacks and flew over to join his comrad.

((Xi - Nevermind what I had before. I'm really confused right now -_-))

"Okay scratch that. We need to hurry!" Gizmo hastily said. He looked over at Kleft. "We're gonna need that APD."

Another wave of color swept across Tsunami's fur, leaving it green and the streaks a light purple. "Here, let us do it," she said, taking the APD. She then vanished in a flash of light, reappearing closer to the stone. After several more flashes, she arrived beside Leatherhead, swinging a lightning-laced fist at him.

In an uncharacteristic act of selflessness, Burst flew in to block Tsunami's punch, taking the full shock. "G-Go for it... Big guy..." he struggled to say. Leatherhead did just that, and jammed the prong into the barrier. The crystal in it began to react, similarly to the Chaos attacks, but different at the same time. "This gemstone shall belong to Velios!!" he shouted.

"Like HECK it will!" Splice fell from above, with both daggers in hand, and slashed the center of the prong with enough force to chop it in half.

Raising her arms, Tsunami summoned tendrils of water to rise up and wrap around both Burst's and Leatherhead's legs, channeling her electricity through the tentacles and into them.

Kitty quickly flew over to Tsunami, waving his hands around. "APD! APD!" He exclaimed frantically, wanting her to hand over the device while she took care of them.

Glancing between Kitty and the gemstone, Tsunami nodded and handed the APD off to the chao, using another Chaos Beam to blast a hole in the barrier. "Get in before it closes!" she said, going back to attempting to electrocute Burst and Leatherhead.

Kitty nabbed the device and dove towards the barrier as fast as he could. Smash, being already close to it, quickly flew inside. He turned to look at Kitty, and gestured for him to hurry up. "Come on!" He yelled, afraid that he wouldn't make it.

At the very last second, Kitty just barely managed to slip inside with him. "Whew...Chaoka.." He wiped a bead of sweat off his forehead, and handed the device to Smash.

"Alright...Let's--crap, I have no idea how to use this. Kitty?" Smash handed it back to the chao, who sighed and shook his head. Kitty activated the APD, and examined it closely.

((Xi - Smash, you sure you should be actually going inside just yet? Banzai may not want us to get that far.))

((I dunno, I figured with the whole chapter change just now, (and the name of it, at that) he probably did. Besides, the battles are kind of dragging on.~Smash The Echidna~  http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100421224452/sonicfanon/images/0/04/Smash_life.png 00:02, June 5, 2012 (UTC))

((Xi - Still, it might be better to wait for him.))

((Whoa, looks like I missed out on a lot of stuff lol. Anyways, you're fine where you are right now Smash. Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 02:04, June 5, 2012 (UTC)))

"Leave that to me guys," Levi said from the ground. Green tendrils began to dance between his fingers as he prepared his technokinesis. A similar aura enveloped the APD from within the barrier, causing it to levitate from Kitty's grasp. An odd, syringe-like device extended out from the machine, and extended towards the pink, radiant gemsone which looked a lot like the Master Emerald. "Almost there," Levi said. The syringe started sucking up some of the pink aura surrounding the gemstone, and a graph located on the screen of the APD indicated that it was filling up with energy. "Almost--Gah!!!" Levi was suddenly thrown off his feet, along with anyone else who was in the area. Kasumi, seeing the heroes' efforts, had decided to interfere. He had fired a very tiny white sphere at Levi, only this time, it suddenly exploded in an unbelievably massive cloud of steam, sending out a shockwave powerful enough to deeply scar the ground and blast away and damage anyone not expecting it.

With it's pilot out of comission, the APD shook a little bit, and began to fall towards the ground.

Banzai had only just gotten up after being blown back from the explosion when he noticed the APD, and their last hope, falling. "GRAB IT!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Kitty dove down quickly, and managed to grab it before it was too late. He flew back up to the gemstone, and tried to get it to work again. "Meewwww..."

Leatherhead had managed to resist the explosion, being as heavy as he is, and continued to drill through the barrier with his device. "Not... so... fast," he replied to the fallen Banzai. The prong on his arm gradually tore a hole through the barrier, which Leatherhead had now begun to force himself through. "The gemstone shall belong to Velios... you foolish do-gooders!"

((Xi - It's ok that Leatherhead's getting through there too, right?))

((Yeah, it's okay. If the good guys can get in, why not the bad too? Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 02:20, June 5, 2012 (UTC)))

"Hold it metal head!" Beat said, throwing mutiple razor sharp discs of energy at the robotic reptile, rapid-fire style. Kleft, meanwhile, had run up to Leatherhead, grabbing him by the shoulders and trying to force him back out of the forcefield.

The energy discs affected Leatherhead in an odd manner: the ones which struck his right side merely shattered against his metallic frame. The ones which hit his left side, however, cut through the remnants of his hide and drew blood, revealing that he was at least partly organic. Burst had taken his attention from Tsunami to aim his arm back towards Leatherhead, and fired an explosive fireball at Kleft, aiming to knock him off. Kleft gritted his teeth, and took the impact head on. He managed to withstand the attack, thanks to his body's tough endurance, and keep his hold on Leatherhead, although he did take some damage.

Electric coughed as he stood up, looking upon the damaged ground. "Is everyone okay?" He asked.

"Barely." Lightning remarked.

Gizmo, though pretty roughed up from the blast, rushed over to Levi and tried to help him up. "Hey, you okay?" He asked.

Tsunami took a step toward Burst, about to attack, but stopped. She leapt backward, propelling herself with a small burst of water. As soon as she was out of the way, Inferna flew in at high speed, aiming to slam Burst against the barrier. Tendril, in an effort to get Kasumi's attention away from the others, began rapid-firing spheres of twilight energy at the sentient cloud. Aquella, having finally made up her mind on who to attack, flew down at Levi, drawing back her fully charged Undertow.

Being practically a living cloud, Tendril's attacks naturally passed through Kasumi's body. He did, howver, manage to catch his attention. Kasumi faced Tendril, extending his right index finger. His finger stretched outwards, transforming into a pure-white whip made of heavy, dense steam. He then swung his arm in a wide arc, sending the whip flying at Tendril.

Levi had just begun to get up when he saw Aquella diving towards him from above, futily raising his arms to guard against his attacker. Suddenly, a large wall of hardened earth erupted from the ground between Aquella and Levi, shielding the latter. The source of the anomaly was Paroi, who had quickly cast Quakaga to save Levi.

Gizmo let out a quick sigh of relief at the close call. He briefly glanced at his open wrist communicator, and looked back at Levi. "Kitty still has the APD. It doesn't seem to be damaged but it's stopped working. Levi, can you do something about it?"

Levi breathed out a huge sigh of relief, before turning to Gizmo. "Yeah, but since it's been activated, all Kitty has to do is hold it up to the gemstone until the little bar on the screen fills up. Simple, no?"

"Simple enough." Gizmo nodded. "Hear that, Kitty?"

"Chao!" Kitty answered from the other side. He hovered closer to the gemstone and held the APD up close to it.

Tendril smirked as his Twilight Bombs passed through Kasumi, exactly as he knew they would. As soon as they were halfway through, he stopped them in place and detonated them, attemtping to beat Kasumi by countering the pressure in his body with the pressure of the light and shadows escaping from each other. With Inferna attacking Burst again, Tsunami temporarily broke off from her own attack and sent her own blast of steam to defend Tendril from Kasumi's. Aquella slammed into the wall of stone, turned and hurled the Undertow at Paroi, then continued assaulting the wall with blasts of water and lightning, attempting to erode the barrier.

"Oh, they explode too?" Kasumi said, somewhat surprised. As the bomb's detonated, Kasumi's body dispersed, forimg a massive, dense fog, which continued to expanded over a large radius. As the fog continued to grow, people who were caught inside would feel a heavy weight pressing on their body, making it quite difficult to move, and would find it very difficult to breathe within the cloud.

Finally, after the unappreciated setbacks, Leatherhead managed to breach the barrier fully, but Kleft was still holding him back enough to keep him from advancing towards the gemstone. He decided to change tactics, going on a more offenseive route. Removing the strange crystal from his energy prong with his free hand, he changed his right arm back into a cannon, and fired it at Kitty. Then he quickly changed his arm again into what looked like a tesla coil. He turned towards the self-repairing barrier behind him and struck it with the coil, sending a powerful backlash of energy through the metal of his body, likely to affect Kleft due to him being at point-blank range.

Kleft cried out in pain, but stubbornly held on to Leatherhead, bearing the surge of energy. In a last ditch effort to stop the cyborg, Kleft released a plethora of spiked from every part of his pody, each one tipped with the same deadly acid from before.

"Oh, no you don't!" Smash yelled. He flew in between Kitty and the blast, his body glowing faintly, and deflected the shot with his arm back down towards Leatherhead.

Burst continued to dodge around Inferna's onslaught, finding difficulty after the attack he took from Tsunami. He was definitely weakened, but he still had enough energy to sustain his Nova mode. This ain't good, he thought, I things don't turn around quick, I'm gonna have to bail. As he continued on the defensive, he surveyed his surroundings, looking for a way out. Kasumi and Tendril were out of the question, Leatherhead had his hands full (quite literally, in fact), there were far too many bystanders to account for... Aquella and Paroi caught his attention. Hmm, if I play this right, I just might be able to pull off something sweet.

Tendril froze when he saw Kasumi expanding. He hadn't expected that. He glanced down at his hands, temporarily releasing his hold on the rest of the bombs, which all went off immediately. There wasn't much he could do about Kasumi while in Twilight Flame form. To beat Kasumi, it looked like wind was going to be better than light, shadow, or fire. But his current form is as powerful as Tendril could get. At that moment, it was physically impossible to add wind to his arsenal.

Paroi created a hexagonal barrier of magic to deflect the Undertow Aquella had thrown at him, responding by firing 5 basketball sized pure white orbs in her direction.

The cloud that was Kasumi contracted suddenly into his regular form. He then extended both arms in Tendril's direction, and began rapid firing highly compressed balls of steam, which exploded with great force on contact.

Tendril crossed his arms in front of himself, surrounding himself in a sphere of light, hoping to block the steam. His mind continued to race as he tried to find some way of beating Kasumi.

As each steam sphere exploded, rupturing the ground below and blasting away anything near enough to it, the expanded into massive clouds of steam. As Kasumi continued to rain steam bullets on Tendril's barrier, the latter was soon lost in a huge cloud of steam that obscured the majority of the area. At this point, Kasumi ceased his rain of steam bullets. Instead, he chose to let the cloud expand and envelop the area, no doubt plotting something nefarious.

Aquella shot upward to avoid the orbs Paroi fired, then generating several spheres of lightning around her. She glanced at each sphere briefly, her right eye welling up with blood once again as each of the spheres became laced with black flames. She then launched the spheres in Paroi's direction. Even if they missed, small sparks of lightning would still lance off in the direction of the nearest person.

"Shell!" Paroi cried out, materializing a large hexagonal wall of magic to deflect Aquella's attack.

The spikes that hit Leatherhead's metallic frame merely broke on impact, but the ones that hit the rest of him pierced his hide. Hissing in pain, Leatherhead began to grow frustrated. Thinking quickly, he turned his body slightly once more, so that the deflected blast from his cannon would hit Kleft.

Kleft felt Leatherhead moving, and responded by trying to put Leatherhead in front of the blast. Using his incredible strength and the spikes impaled in Leatherhead's body as leverage, Kleft tried to turn his body again, at least so that both he and Leatherhead's organic half would take the blast.

"Kitty! How much longer?" Smash asked, with his back turned to the chao.

"Miaaow, Chao reow mew." Kitty responded. Smash had no idea what that meant, but figured by the tone of his voice that it was almost done. Which it was; The APD was just about fully charged.

In response, the APD played the iconic '1up' theme, and a 'thumbs up' icon appeared on the screen with the words "Fully Charged!" written under it.

"Smash! Mewmewmewmewmewmew!!" Kitty waved his arms around excitedly behind Smash. Smash turned around and grinned.

"Yes. Heck yes." He grabbed onto Kitty, "Alright, hang on tight. We gotta take it back down to Levi and Paroi!" With that, the two began to fly out of the barrier, trying to avoid any crossfire along the way.

((Sorry for the long absence. I had exams to sudy for. Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 00:52, June 23, 2012 (UTC)))

Leatherhead roared, incredibly unhappy with his current position. Though in great pain, with a rather persistant creature on his back, the gator struggled forward towards the Harmonia Gemstone, now ignoring Kitty and the APD. He transformed his arm once more, not into a weapon this time, but just a simple hand. In a gritty and forced voice he cried, "I will not stand for this! Victory will not fall from my grasp!" Leatherhead clawed at the Gemstone, a surge of energy coursing through the entire bionic half of his body.

Looking at his comrad's action with shock, Burst quickly realized what he was trying to do. Now or never, he thought, Time to finish this. Burst flew from Inferna and over towards Paroi, throwing a flame laced punch through his magical barrier. "Yo blue!" he called to Aquella, "What say we blow this place before the place gets blown, if you catch my drift?"

Aquella glanced over at Burst. Forcing herself to focus despite her anger, she glanced over at the gemstone. "Fine," she muttered, "But I'm not letting these guys out of here without teaching them not to mess with me!"

Paroi's barrier, designed only to withstand energy based attacks, was shattered by Burst's punch. Paroi, however, knowing this, reacted quickly and caught Burst's punch in an iron grip, seemingly unaffected by the flames. With surprising strength, he tossed Burst to the ground.

Still too distracted by Kasumi to notice what Leatherhead was doing, Tendril was looking around, frantically trying to come up with something. Spotting his shadow still guarding Inverse Inferna amid the ruins of the tower, he quickly came up with a plan, though it would take more time than he had to tell her before Kasumi could cut him off. Looking around again and seeing that Tsunami wasn't doing much at the moment, he quickly vanished, leaving a shadow in his place. He reappeared a few moments later, continuing this process until he was floating beside Tsunami.

Kasumi saw his opportunity and quickly acted. His cloud form quickly contracted and vanished almost entirely, only to reappear within the barrier through the opening graciously created by Leatherhead. The Aquarion enveloped the gemstone in a thick mist, dense enough to crush anything that entered it. Next to it and in front of Leatherhead, he materialized in his 'solid' form once more, and held a hand out to stop the gator from advancing towards the stone. "If anyone is getting to this stone, it's me," he said, coldly.

"Aren't you guys on the same side?" Kleft asked, surprised at the turn of events.

Tendril turned and stared for a moment, then quickly flew back to Inverse Inferna, since the only thing keeping him from doing so was now doing something else. "Shadow, Inferna, I'm going to need your help with this," he blurted out quickly.

"Really?" Inverse Inferna replied, "What can we do?"

"You know how to use Fusion States, right? I need you to enter your Smoke Form."

"O-okay," she said, a little hesitant. She took a couple steps back and began to conentrate, the air around her gradually thickening as she did so.

"And shadow? I need to borrow your... life force," Tendril continued, looking at his shadow. The shade stared at his master in surprise. "Uhh, yeah, go ahead," he said finally. Tendril nodded, and took back the energy he had left in his shadow to keep it alive. Since Inferna and Tsunami didn't seem to be using their living shadows at the moment, he took back their life forces as well. The black markings on Tsunami's left side retreated slightly, then vanished entirely.

Smash landed down behind Paroi, seeing him fending off Burst. "Paroi, Levi! Over here!" He called out. Kitty flew out of his arms, holding onto the APD.

Levi levitated the device out of Kitty's hands and into his. "Thanks guys! Hey, Paroi, are you busy?"

Paroi was too busy fighting Burts to hear Levi, so the latter turned to Smash. "Do you think you can help him?" he asked, motioning towards Paroi. "We need him to get us out of here."

"Got it." Smash sprinted over to the battlefield. Splice soon landed next to Levi, and looked around.

"Okay, now that the ADP's charged, I'm going to gather everyone up." He said. "Come on, Kitty."

The chao nodded and followed after him as he took back off into the air. Meanwhile, Smash stopped besides Paroi, and nudged his side. "Go. I'll take care of this for now."

"If you insist," Paroi said jokingly, then made his way over to Levi. Kasumi noticed the strange shift of events, and decided that, whatever the heroes were planning, it couldn't be good. With the gemstone still surrounded by thick, heavy mist, he proceeded to attempt to drag it out of the barrier the same way he came in. Meanwhile, the emerald flame that was slowly approaching the area had seemingly vanished.

Leatherhead refused to let up, and kept his claw tightly gripped on the gemstone. "You seem to forget, Daleth..." Letherhead began, his teeth gritted as he spoke, "Though my strength may not surpass yours, my intelligence is far beyond your comprehension." His eyes glowed with power and fury as the radiant energies of the gemstone continued to surge up through his mechanical arm. "I cannot lose this day, and the sooner you realize this, the more swift your ultimate punishment shall be."

"Really? Is that so? Because your current actions are causing me to seriously question your intellect," Kasumi replied. The mist around the stone quickly condensed on to Leatherhead's metallic arm, so compressed and heavy that it looked as if he was wearing a large, fat arm warmers. However, the dense cloud carried the weight of oceans, and would most likely crush Leatherhead's arm under the pressure.

"It's only a matter of time now," the gator chuckled, resisting the pressure on his arm with Herculean effort. "Everything is going according to plan. You are nothing more than an annoyance now... fog on the lense, so to speak. All this time spent fighting myself and the boss... have you not once wondered what the others of our ranks might be doing now?" Slowly, Leatherhead's arm began to succumb to the dense cloud. Ever so gradually it would dent in one place or another, releasing more energy in violent shocks. Still he fought on, having no intentions of giving up.

"Speaking of our teammates," Kasumi continued, undaunted by Leatherhead's taunts, "I suggest turning heel and getting out of here while you can, for I believeGah!" Kasumi was interrupted by a sudden force jerking his body backwards. "Wait.....no...way..." The mist covering the gemstone, and Leatherhead's arm, was suddenly pulled out from the barrier, along with Kasumi himself--towards a lone, short, silver echidna, dressed in a black hoodie and grey jeans. Catching Kasumi's head in his left hand, he kept his head down as he seemingly took something from Kasumi's body. Kasumi, on the other hand, had his face paralyzed in a look of terror as his power was drained, returning to its original host. In a matter of seconds, the boy was done, and he tossed Kasumi's body aside like discarded waste, where he lay in a catatonic state. "Much better," the boy whispered, flexing his fingers in front of his face. The entire process was soundless and subtle, and should have gone unnoticed by the others.

By now, Splice had gathered just about the entire gang in one spot around Levi. Most people were exhausted from trying to defend themselves and stay out of range of the bigger battles--Especially with the explosions Burst had been slinging around. The only ones left were the ones still directly engaged in combat. Kleft had walked over to meet them, although he was still injured from his bout with Leatherhead---and starving.

"Alright then. Paroi, Ciel, you know what to do," Levi said. He handed the charged APD to Ciel. She then held it out to Paroi, who placed his hand on top of it. A faint, pink aura began to envelop the two of them, which continued to grow in intensity. "It will take time to build power," Paroi said, eyes glowing white.

Smash spread his arms out in a fake welcoming gesture. "Hey Burst man! I'm wide open over here!" He called out with a grin. All he really needed to do was buy them enough time for everyone else to get back. He knew Burst hungered for action, so it was mandatory to keep him occupied.

Burst looked over at Smash and nearly charged right for him... but he had more important things to do. He looked one last time to check on Leatherhead, and noticed out of the corner of his eye what had happened to Kasumi. "It's now or never, Blue!" he called back to Aquella, "Time to bail, now!"

Aquella glared back at Burst, disgusted that he had even considered abandoning the battle. "I've never run from a fight, and I'm not going to start now!" she replied fiercely.

Leatherhead looked onward with much enjoyment. "Yes... all according to plan." He released the gemstone, a fragment of its power still statically trapped within his bionics. "I am pleased to see you've finally arrived, Lord Velious," he greeted, "I've succeeded in keeping the gemstone from the grasp of these fools, hopefully to your liking."

"Velious.....Velious....Wester....my name," the boy muttered. In contrast to the teenaged Wes and the adult V, Velious was a young child, no more than 12 or 13 years old. He placed a hand to his head and closed his eyes, trying to recall something. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes, and looked at Soshiro and Ibara. "Why is my power so...dispersed?" he asked no one in particular. Soshiro and Ibara stood paralyzed, staring at the individual on the battlefield. Velious raised his hand towards them and, rather than suck the life out of them as he did to Kasumi, large, green orbs of light floated out of the two of them and into Velious's body. Soshiro and Ibara immediately fell to their knees, greatly weakened by the process. "Good. Now I can do it from a distance," Velious whispered to himself. He then turned to look at Leatherhead, and then at the gemstone, which he stared at for several seconds, before snapping back to his senses. "This stone...yes, I needed it to get back to my dimension so I could destroy---wait, who are you again? And....why am I sensing some of this stone's power within your body?"

"I am called Leatherhead, Lord Velious," he replied, "For years I have lived in the presence of your counterpart from this Zone, a pathetic attempt to mimick such power. His existance intrigued me, however, so I took it upon myself to learn more. To make a long story short, I have become fascinated by your greatness, and wish to further your progress in accomplishing your ultimate goal." He then raised his arm as if to examine it, at the same time showing it off to Velious. "The power of the gemstone I possess was necessary to keep it safe. It shall be returned in due time. However, there is another fragment of its power astray." He looked over at Paroi and Ciel, glaring fiercely at the APD. "They are weak in your presence. Recovering it will be a simple task."

"Save the flattery," Velious said, coldly and emotionlessly. "Everything's slowly coming back now..."

Tendril, his coloring more vibrant now from his power boost, watched Velious silently, the two Infernas standing on either side of him. Inferna, noticing that Velious was here, had finally calmed down from her rage against Burst, and now stood half-cowering, slightly behind Tendril. Inverse Inferna stood on the other side in the same position, her fur now various shades of gray due to the Smoke Form. Tsunami let herself drop to the ground, landing on her feet nearby.

Seeing Burst run, Smash silently wondered if there was something he was trying to get away from. It was then when he realized that something was terribly wrong. It had suddenly gone quiet. The struggle up by the Gemstone had stopped, and Kasumi was nowhere in his sight. Burst just high-tailed it out of here, and finally, he was feeling an alarmingly strong power from somewhere near him. He immediately whirled around and scanned the area for the glowing green figure, only to see that it had vanished. His heart nearly stopped, as his eyes darted around left and right. "Wh-...Where did it go?"

Suddenly, something caught his eye. The severely weakened Soshiro and Ibara, over by their group. He rushed over, anxious to know what happened, when he saw Splice and Violet trying to help them up. He suddenly froze in his tracks, right before he reached them. That power...It's coming from... He slowly turned to see just who it was he was sensing. "Oh...Ohh no...It can't be..." His eyes locked on the figure, now known as Velious Wester.

"Right...right..." Velious whispered to himself once more as his memories returned to him. "You guys," he said, coldly yet casually to the gathering heroes, "you're the ones who've been messing with my...or rather, V's plans. I feel like I want to destroy you, but also I just couldn't care less." Unlike the the malevolent and playful V, Velious acted indifferently and cynically, his speech casual yet slow monotone. "But what was I...V really thinking? Taking over dimensions? What was the point?" He placed his hand to his forehead and shook his head, almost regretful at V's actions. "Doesn't matter," he then said, suddenly. "Now that I'm back I can get back to my real plan." He then raised his hand, palm facing Ciel, and attempted to pull her in telekinetically....but nothing happened. "Hm? what the..." He tried again, this time on all the heroes and again, no effect. "Something's preventing my telekinesis from working on you," he said, looking at his palm. The revelation didn't seem to shock him; it only served as a hindrance. "Not that it matters, though," he said, "although I do need that girl again."

"That can be arranged," Leatherhead replied. He transformed his arm back into the familiar cannon, and proceeded to aim it at Ciel.

Smash took a few steps back, as did Violet and Splice. This new V, or Velious, was disturbing them. He was nothing like either of the two halves that fused. Smash felt relieved that he didn't care about killing them anymore, but this "real" plan sent a chill up his spine. He stood defensively in front of Ciel. After all they'd been through before, they couldn't afford to lose her again.

Leatherhead paused, calculating his next move. "Hmm... Burst, take care of these urchins, will you?" he asked. Burst hesistated, but flew behind Ciel and the others, trapping them between him and Leatherhead.

"Not good..." Smash muttered. "Now all the attention's on us."

"Guuyyss..." Gizmo groaned worriedly, looking at Paroi and Ciel at the corner of his eye.

"Keep together." Inverse David ordered, getting in a battle stance beside Smash. "Whatever happens, do not let them have Ciel."

Tendril flew over and landed in an empty space beside Ciel. "Got it."

Beat stood right next to Ciel and Paroi, and created the strongest barrier he could around the three of them.

Banzai stood in front of the barrier, the side facing Burst, and gestured for him to 'bring it'. Kleft and Levi stood on the other side, facing Leatherhead.

Smash, Pearl, Violet, Splice and Inverse David stood on the side facing Burst as well. Kyle, Keela, Thunder and his brothers stood with Kleft and Levi. The others stayed inside the barrier, with Crystal helping Beat to keep it up.

After a moment of consideration, the Infernas glanced at one another and ran to join the others, Inferna facing Burst and Inverse Inferna facing Leatherhead. Even Tsunami flew over and landed facing Burst, assuming the others might need her help since Burst and Aquella still seemed to be working together.

Though they appeared insanely outnumbered, Leatherhead couldn't help but crack a smile. Burst too let out a light chuckle as he floated parallel to the heroes. "And now... it's time for my favourite part of the game," the gator whispered, "...Sudden Death."

"Vic, rock it!" Burst shouted. Suddenly a pitch black veil appeared on the ground beneath the heroes, and shot up a powerful blast of darkness, engulfing the entire group as it flew skyward. "And now we wait..." Leatherhead muttered as he watched the attack occur, his cannon still aimed forward armed and ready.

Banzai's fist suddenly appeared inches from Burst's face, about to deal a powerful blow. He had entered his Berserker Chaos Form and had rushed out at high speed as soon as he saw the ground change. At the same time, Splice rocketed out beside him, aiming to send a flying kick to his stomach area. Levi had activated some sort of hover device on his shoes, not only granting him increased mobility but a sudden burst of extreme speed, allowing him to dash out of the area and straight towards Leatherhead.

Beat, however, had instinctively increased the size of his barrier, enveloping anyone who wasn't as fortunate to escape the sudden attack. Tendril used his own control of shadows to help Beat protect the others.

Smash grabbed Pearl's wrist and dove out of the area just in time. Crystal's part of the barrier began to weaken from the attack, putting strain on her as she tried to keep up with Beat. On the other side, Kyle suddenly appeared on the opposite side of Leatherhead, his sword extended forward. Several delayed reaction slashes struck at him from all sides. Velious simply watched the events unfold with disintrest.

To defend Burst from Banzai and Splice, Shades suddenly materialized in an explosion of rock from the ground below. His sunglasses were nowhere to be seen, and his hipnotic eyes gazed deeply at the oncoming foes. Leatherhead fired the energy blast he had been charging forward at Levi. Then, just before Kyle passed, a curtain of shadow enveloped the gator and burst into a dark cloud. Kyle was forced to cease his attack and try to defend himself.

Splice ended up kicking into the debris that Shades knocked up, halting his assault for just a moment. He landed on one foot, whirled around and dealt a roundhouse kick towards Shades' face.

With great agility, Levi deftly avoided the blast and contined charging forward, only to see that his adversary had vanished. Meanwhile, emerald energy shot out of Banzai's fist, which was now dangerously close to Shades's head.

Meanwhile, Burst used Shades' distraction to fly up above the main group now that the darkness attack had faded. There he met up with Skyrat, who divebombed towards the barrier. All the while Burst charged his body with explosive energy to make the attack all the more devastating. "You'd better be right about this, big guy," Burst muttered to himself, "You're lucky I'm stickin' around for this."

Beat and Crystal could only hold on and pray as Skyrat attacked their barrier. Keela on the other hand, tried to shoot him out of the sky before he could reach them.

The massive pigeon glowed a bright blue as he tucked in his wings and collided with the barrier. A violent explosion was the result, annihlating the protective field and sending a powerful concussive force where it once stood. Skyrat landed a short distance away, almost immediately collapsing from the immense recoil. Like Leatherhead, he too was enveloped in a cloak of shadow, drawing him out of the battlefield. Soon afterwards the same happened to Shades, leaving Burst as the only of the Cleaners still in sight.

The barrier shattering explosion sent Crystal staggering backward until she fell over. Landing flat on her back, she was breathing heavily; almost as if she herself had taken some of the damage. Silver knelt down beside her, "Are you alright?" He asked. "I'm...I'm okay..." She answered through deep breaths. Krysi hovered back over to them, after being blown several feet away, and landed next to Crystal in a daze.

Beat was blown back as well from the force of the shattered barrier. Banzai, moving at high speed, just managed to catch him before he hit the ground. Through deep breaths, he thanked his friend, and turned his tired gaze to the remaining opponents. "Where....did the others...go?" He wondered aloud. "Wait!" He suddenly realized, "Paroi....Ciel..." He looked around for them in worry, thinking that their only chance of returning home was lost forever. He was both shocked and relieved to find them standing right where they were before, with large, translucent hexagonal plates of energy seemingly protecting them; Paroi had seeming cast a defensive spell in case of any mishap.

"That was close," Levi said, landing next to the two. "Looks like Paroi had a contingency plan in case anything went wrong." He breated a loud sigh of relief, then focused on the adversairies before them. "I don't know where the other went, but I think it'd be wise to focus on these guys for now."

Smash took a moment to size up the current situation. Burst was the only thug left. There were now two threats in front of them: Burst, and Velius Wester. Even though they managed to fend off the main assault up to this point, that still didn't necessarily mean that they were winning. With his team down, Burst would most likely pull some desperation tactics on them. And there was absolutely no telling what was on Velius' mind. He gritted his teeth, knowing that things could get bad in an instant.

Velious had his head low, seemingly in deep thought. He was content in letting his new 'allies' deal with his enemies, but still seemed to be adjusting to his recent rebirth. In truth, he was still organizing his thoughts; He had a vague recollection of what his 'true' plan was, but was still trying to remember all the steps leading up to his final goal.

Aquella stood back, still staring daggers at the heroes. Despite the rest of Burst's group apparently leaving, Aquella had, as she'd said, no intention of abandoning a fight. Especially not when her opponents were taking so long to kill. The Infernas stood on either side of Tendril. Inverse Inferna and Tsunami glared back at Aquella and Inferna at Burst. Tendril kept his eyes fixed on Velious, just in case he tried something while his friends weren't looking.

Levi pulled a sleek, grey firearm out of a holster on his belt, deftly twirling it between his fingers before pointing it at Burst. Gizmo stood by his left, charging his Hand Cannon with plasma energy before taking aim at their enemy. Kitty hovered just about Gizmo's shoulder, aiming his little gun at Burst as well. Kleft moved closer to his partner in battle, growing several spikes out of his forearms. Banzai was busy tending to Beat, and was looking pretty tired himself after exhausting so much energy recently.

Burst's eyes darted back and forth between the plethora of opponents he now faced alone. This wasn't part of the plan, he thought nervously. Never was there a moment when not a pair of eyes was fixed on him, and it was driving him nuts. He didn't have much time left in his Nova mode, but he was certain he could still take on at least a couple of the others still. Leatherhead and the rest of 'em can suck it..

Meanwhile, from an unperceivable vantage point, Victor and Leatherhead discussed the current situation. "You truly have faith that he won't cast you aside?" Victor asked. "Even if not, I expect you to trust that I have more than enough alternatives to fall back on should anything go amis," replied the bionic gator, "Our first step is to ensure the least possible resistance. You'll need to eliminate as many of them as possible." Victor gave a hesitant nod before disappearing from his own closed space, leaving Leatherhead and the others still hidden while he proceeded to another location.

Without warning or any preliminary movement, Levi fired a shot from his blaster. The black energy blast zipped through the air with a crimson red aura surrounding it, heading straight for between Bursts eyes.

Burst merely glared at the blast, smirking, and within a moment of if being fired, it detonated mid-shot, a safe distance away. "You're gonna have to do better than that, slick!" the firey hedgehog shouted down, masking his nerves with forced confidence. With a snap of his fingers he targeted the gun, triggering the explosive energy in any further charges it was loaded with.

"Damn it!" Levi shouted. Fortunately, as he was firing bursts of his own technokinetic energy, the blaster was empty, and Burst's attempt to blow up the charges was nullified. Kleft charged towards Burst, arm-spikes  extended and attempted to swipe at his neck. Meanwhile, Levi deftly played with his gun across his fingers, with light blue electricity emanating from it. When he was done, his blaster had transformed into multiple of some form of octagonal disk.

Seeing what happened with Levi's attempt, Gizmo let the power die down in the weapon and decided to change tactics. He needed something less explosive if he were to get through Burst's powers. He began sifting through his equipment, hoping to find something to work with.

Tsunami glanced over at the incapacitated form of Kasumi laying a few feet from Velious. Inverse Inferna kept watching Aquella, prepared to warn Tsunami if she tried anything. Inferna, despite her still-lingering aggression towards this world's Burst, remained on the ground instead of launching herself at him head-on. Her anger was still there, but had burned down enough that she could think clearly again, and she was fairly certain that repeating her unrelenting barrage from before would be about as effective as it was then. So instead, she remained where she was and thought over all of the tools and abilities still at her disposal, trying to come up with a more intelligent plan.

Still with enough energy to move swiftly, Burst continuously back-stepped away from Kleft. He didn't attempt a counter attack, likely trying to save his strength. It appeared as if his attention were divided, though, as he made few of his usual quips.

A brief 'whizzing' sound was heard, and suddenly the four octagonal disks Levi had created flew past Kleft and Burst. Kleft did a quick and sudden backflip away from Burst, as the disks exploded, releasing huge blasts of some form of adhesive goo, attempting to restrain Burst by covering him with the substance. Meanwhile, Levi had removed his gloves, revealing intricate, pure-white tattoos over the backs of his sleek, blue palms.

Gizmo powered his Hand Cannon with an Earth Elemental Ring, and took aim just in time to see the explosion in front of him. If Levi's attack worked, then this next shot should be precise. He fired a large stone out of the cannon, heading straight towards Burst's abdomen.

The goo stuck fast leaving Burst completely immobile, and wide open to the stone blast. A hit like that was just about all Burst could take, causing him to slowly flicker out of his Nova mode. Still trapped by the goo, he could only look up at his opponents, panting heavily. "Alright... you asked for it..."

Suddenly the battlefield became draped in black. The darkness grew until nothing could be seen, and soon it even became difficult to hear. The phenomenon extended far, though Burst and Velious were left unaffected.

"What in blazes!?" Kleft cursed loudly at the sudden occurence. Levi simply gasped in awe, taken aback by the sudden-ness of the technique and unsure how to combat it. Beat and Banzai displayed similar reactions, accompanied by simultaneous cries of "What the heck!?". Paroi and Ciel, however, seemed oblivious to the world around them, still trying to organize a way out of this dimension.

Startled, Smash backed up immediately, though without anywhere to really go. He looked around, growing worried as his line of vision began rapidly shortening. "The heck is going on...?" He muttered under his breath. He felt Pearl cling on to his elbow, insecurely. Splice hurried back over to them, scared when he saw that they were slowly fading from his sight.

Gizmo and Kitty stood as close to each other and Levi as possible. Kyle and Keela stood on the opposite side of him, completely baffled. "Everyone stay close." Thunder warned. "I don't like where this is going." Meanwhile, Crystal attempted to put up another barrier, hoping that it's faint glow would be enough to illuminate the area. Cutter pulled a flashlight from his belt and flipped it on, waving it around the area to see what was going on.

Levi's glowing tattoos also acted as a light source, and once he had removed his vest, his entire upper body was revealed to be covered in intricate, swirling, glowing markings, making him appear somewhat visible in the darkness. Another light source was the glowing duo of Paroi and Ciel, who still appeared to be preparing some sort of escape from this dimension.

As the darkness engulfed the area, the two Infernas huddled close to each other and to Tendril, while Tsunami quickly activated her Ocean Eye. The light allowing her to see normally might have been fading, but they were still on an island in the middle of the ocean, which three hydrokinetics have been battling on. There was plenty of water in the air for her to "see" with her Ocean Eye.

"An interesting technique," Velious said upon inspection. "I'm assuming it does more than scare the nyctophobiacs among us?"

The darkness continued to spread, and soon the heroes were completely invisible to eachother. Common light sources appeared not to hinder it, causing the flashlight and barrier to simply appear as a gradient cone and bubble, respectively. In short time it began to grow quiet. The voices of all in the shroud became faint, and soon silent. In the dark only a single whisper could be heard: "Goodnight."

"I don't like this...." Kleft muttered silently to himself. "Are you cowards really that threatened by us that you have to fight us in the dark?" However, his voice was completely inaudible, shocking him into silence. Levi, on the other hand, suprisingly, was much more composed considering the situation. He had his hands clasped, his mystical tattoos illuminating the lean shape of his upper body. I can't see or hear anything in this darkness, the thought to himself. At least this brief calm gives me the chance to finally use this technique. He then proceeded to crouch and place both his palms on the ground, eyes closed, fully blocking out his surrounding. Although it has been quite a while since I've used this talent; I just hope my hunch is correct.

Gizmo and the others next to Levi noticed the light immediately. They stared in awe, wondering what it was he was attempting to do.

Kleft, after his silent outburst, finally noticed his friend glowing like a neon sign. He was about to ask what he was up to, but stopped himself once he realized no sound was coming out.

Smash saw the light at the corner of his eye, and pointed toward it. He opened his mouth to order everyone to gather at the light, only to find that his voice was gone.'' Wh-what..!? ''He stopped himself in complete shock. ''What just...? Why can't I...?''

A lone voice echoed from behind Levi. Had he the mental freedom to comprehend it properly, he would have recognized it to be Burst's. The weakened hedgehog, freed from his sticky shackles by his comrads, approached the lizard's blindside and mumbled, "Payback's a b****, ain't it?" On his last word he struck Levi in the back of the head. Though he had little strengh left, he powered his strike with enough explosive force not detonate, but to likely knock him out.

Almost entirely by luck, Levi had activated his technique in time to avoid Burst's attempt on his life unknowlingly. Burst's hand passed through empty air, as Levi's form had completely disappeared from the vicinity, his glowing tattoos leaving a faint afterimage in the darkness.

"Damn, that's gonna be trouble," Burst muttered to himself before disappearing into the darkness once more.

Smash tried to make a dash toward the lights, but they soon faded from his sight. It was then when he felt something missing. He accidentally yanked out of Pearl's grasp from the sprint. He immediately turned around, and found nothing. His heart sank quickly. ''What is going on...? Why can't I...--'' Smash furrowed his brow, suddenly. ''Wait. This whole thing is an illusion. Nothing's changed. Absolutely nothing has changed. Everyone's still here. It's just an illusion to fool us into a state of panic from losing sight of everything and everyone.'' He closed his eyes, calmed himself, and tried to think of a way to overturn it. ''Now the best way to stop this would be to find the source. Easier said than done though. Can't see a dang thing in here. There has to be another way...''

"Easy, sit and wait," echoed a voice in front of Smash. Leatherhead now stood before him, though he wouldn't be able to tell. The gator threw a powerful punch with his metallic fist, leaving Smash to only unknowingly take the force of the blow. Luckily for him, thank's to Victor's technique, he wouldn't feel it at the moment. However, if he weren't out cold afterwards, it'd certainly be sore after the veil of darkness was lifted.

Tsunami, seeing her opportunity to try her plan without opposition, turned to face Kasumi's body and raised her arms high, pulling water out of his form and surrounding herself in it. Aquella, being with the Cleaners at the moment, could still use her senses as well as they could. Seeing that her only equal among the group she'd been watching was now distracted, Aquella charged at the Infernas at top speed, generating a sphere of lightning in each hand. However, just before she struck, Tendril lept in the way, using the shadows surrounding him to generate a sphere of dark lightning in each hand without too much strain on his own energy. He raised his arms and blocked Aquella's attack, holding her away from the dazed and immobilized Infernas.

((Xi - Just so we're clear, nobody should have been able to see Levi, except Velious and the Cleaners. At most they'd just see a faint image of his glowing markings, and only if they're close to him like Gizmo was.))

Quite a distance from the battlefield, on top of a large, rocky plateau, a small circle of light appeared on the ground. A splash of light erupted from the circle, and Levi's head sprouted out from the ground, followed by his shoulders, arms, torso, and the rest of his body. It took a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the bright light of the sun, a sensation he was glad to experience one again. Gotta focus! he reprimanded himself. However, he still took some time to stretch his limbs a little. ''My transmutation skills are a bit rusty, and to be forced to dig such a large tunnel so quickly with it. Although....I know I got away, but it's killing me leaving behind everyone like this..''. Under normal circumstances, Levi would never leave his comrades behind on the battlefield. However, he had quickly deduced that something was up, and decided that the best way to save everyone was to act on his own, as there was no way he could transport everyone, nor even communucate in that darkness. Having had several years worth of war experience during his relatively long lifespan, he had the experience to accurately sum up the situation. The Cleaner's sudden disappearance was the first clue. The second hint was the time taken between that moment and the activation of the technique, leading him to assume that that was the reason they had left in the first place. Looking back from his tall vantage point, all he saw was blackness where he once was, a massive area of darkness that stretched on for some distance. ''I have to assume that those villains aren't affected by....whatever that is, otherwise they wouldn't have sprung it with their leader and V in the vicinity. Also, the general rule of thumb is, if an enemy is forced to retreat to use some secret technique or whatever, there must be some reason they can't do it up close.......and that there must be someone in control of it to pick out their desired victims. The thing is....how do I find the mastermind?''

"It is complete!" Paroi's voice suddenly sounded from within the darkness. The glow surounding Paroi and Ciel began to fade, and the two were brought back into reality....or into a gigantic cloud of darkness. "Hm...." Paroi grumbled, very confused, "would someone like to explain to me what's going on?" Ceil, although unable to see him, stayed close to Paroi, just as startled and confused as he was.

Meanwhile, outside the dark cloud and from his high vantage point, Levi tried to see if he could spot the caster of the vile technique his friends were trapped in. Unfortunately, he didn't see anything but rock formations everywhere he looked, causing him to let out a deep sigh of frustration. There was one other way though. "Looks like I'm gonna have to use it again," he said, looking at the markings on his arms. They began to glow once again, and he placed his palms on the ground and closed his eyes, concentrating very hard on his task. His Technokinetic abilities are actually a derivative of transmutation (the art reshaping matter), where he focuses specifically on technology and uses whatever energy the technology provides as a power source. Unlike technokinesis, transmutation is a rare and difficult art in his race, and when transmuting he uses his own life force as a power source, which can potentially be fatal and why it is usually avoided and not taught. Right now, he was using transmutation to 'see' his surroundings, analyzing the matter within his vicinity in order to spot any 'anomalies'.

Levi's search was not in vain, as his transmutation revealed to him the form of Victor, hovering above the field of darkness. The bat appeared to be in deep focus which, along with his previously demonstrated abilities, made clear that he was the source of the anomaly.

Found you, Levi thought to himself as he slowly got up. He pulled out a cylindrical piece of technology from his belt, and reformed it using technokinesis into an arm-cannon of sorts. The shot fired from the weapon would send a powerful shock to its target, causing great damage and inducing temporary paralysis. Without hesitation, Levi fired a basketball-sized, bright yellow energy ball in Victor's direction.

The shot reached Victor, but seemed to pass through him like he was nothing but a cloud of smoke. However, it did have some effect, as the field of darkness below began to receed, slowly but surely. A moment of silence accompanied its retreat, interrupted by Victor himself appearing in front of Levi, mid-way into a kick dealt at his ribs.

With incredibly fast reflexes, Levi caught Victor's kick before it reached him, spun a full 360 degrees and threw him away from the battlefield.

((I'm starting to doubt that this RP will ever get finished. Is anyone stillinterested in continuing this? Cuz I don't want to leave this hanging Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 00:02, April 24, 2013 (UTC)))

(I'm definitely still in, but there isn't really much any of my characters can do while wandering around in darkness. I was waiting for the darkness to fully receed so I could actually do stuff.~Smash The Echidna~  00:16, April 24, 2013 (UTC)))

((Same here. We've gone too far to simply let the roleplay die, but at the moment, Tsunami, Aquella and Tendril are my only characters who can really do anything. And due to the sound-dampening properties of this dome of shadows, I'd be willing to be neither of the Infernas even realize that Aquella attacked or that Tendril's defending them. -Zero))

((I'm kinda hoping Xi lifts this whole darkness thing soon, cuz I''m getting the feeling that it's causing this RP to stagnate, as most of the major characters are unable to act in any way. Possibilities are Endless - Banzai123 20:47, April 24, 2013 (UTC)))''

((Yeah, that's about the size of it. ~Smash The Echidna~  21:04, April 24, 2013 (UTC)))

((Xi - I am soooo so sorry, guys. I've been really busy lately, and haven't had much time at all for my roleplays. I did say that the field receeded, so that shouldn't have been a problem. Again, I'm really sorry for making you all wait so long.))

As Victor was tossed aside, he seemed to evaporate into a strange black mist. The mist quickly made its way back to Levi, and reformed into Victor as he dealt a swift punch to Levi's face.

Not suspecting such a quick counter-attack, it was all Levi could do to bring his arms up in an attempt to guard his face as Victor's punch sent him reeling backwards a bit.

Meanwhile, back on the battlefield, the darkness had seemingly spontaneously receeded. As the darkness cleared, Velious noticed something that caught his attention immediately:Ciel, standing closely beside Paroi. As they met eyes, Ciel seemed to completely freeze at the sight of Velious, while the latter shed a malevolent smile. "Now I remember," he said, reaching out his hand to pull her in using his telekinesis, only, as he momentarily forgot, it didn't work. Grunting in frustration, he began to walk towards the fox girl, possibly hoping to capture her physically instead.

((Sorry about the wait. I need to just work through this writers block so I can stop holding up RP's everywhere. =/ ~Smash The Echidna~  02:08, May 1, 2013 (UTC)))

Smash's vision came back to him like he just awoke from a dream. The first thing he noticed was the excrutiating pain in his head, which caused him to stagger backward. Something hit him hard, but he had no idea what. Pearl rushed over beside him and helped him regain his balance. "Smash, are you okay? What happened?" She asked, worriedly.

"U-ugh, I have no friggin' clue." He groaned in response, rubbing his temple. He noticed a swelling spot in the center of his forehead. "What the heck was all that about?"

Once their vision returned, Gizmo immediately scanned the area. He was relieved that Kitty, Kyle and Keela were still there. But he was alarmed when he noticed that Levi and Thunder were both gone. "Oh no! Where'd they go!?" He exclaimed in panic.

"Relax, I'm right here." Thunder sounded from behind them. The small group turned toward him, "Though I'm not sure where Levi went."

Crystal had let down her barrier once the darkness faded. She let out a small sigh of relief to see that everyone was still there, only for her heart to freeze when she saw that Velious was too--And he was coming right towards them. Cutter and Silver stood in front of her and Ciel, weapons at the ready. Amber knelt by Crystal, wanting to reassure her that they'd be fine, though unsure what to say.

Victor continued his onslaught, disappearing and reappearing to deal numerous swift strikes. His style was odd, consisting of many mixed martial arts. Each hit was directed at a significant spot, aiming to make Levi buckle by hiting an important joint, or hinder him by strike a vital organ.

Levi, more alert now, blocked and parried Victor's onslaught of attacks, despite the multitude of directions they were coming from. However, he was begining to find himself cornered by the skilful bat. The tattoos covering his torso began to glow white once more, and he did several backflips backwards in order to separate himself from Victor. Levi placed his hands on the rocky ground, and a brief flash of light erupted from his location. Almost instantly, a massive fist made purely out of stone shot up from the ground beneath Victor as a result of Levi's transmutative abilities.

Meanwhile, Tendril continued to narrowly fend off Aquella's attacks while Tsunami was drawing power from Kasumi's body. The sudden disappearance of the field of darkness meant that the umbrakinetic now had to rely on his own power to keep his dark lightning spheres going, though he thankfully still had the power boost from taking back the energy he'd placed in his friends' shadows.

To make matters better, both Infernas could now see and hear that their friend was in trouble, and the two immediately rushed to help, attacking Aquella from each side with blasts of fire and, in Inverse Inferna's case, wind and smoke. Aquella, sensing the two closing in on her from either side, quickly brought up a wall of water around herself and Tendril in an attempt to stop them. However, as the Infernas bashed relentlessly against the wall with heat and flame, they were continuously evaporating more and more water, forcing Aquella to divert some of her attention to drawing more into the wall and protecting herself.

Revealing themselves once more, the Cleaners struck at the two Infernas. -Inferna was struck from below by Shades, who materialized in a blast of rock and debris. Inferna herself was jumped by Burst, who dealt an explosive kick to her back.

Inverse Inferna stumbled and fell backward from Shades' attack, but quickly jumped to her feet and backed away, breathing a jet of toxic, black smoke at her assailant. Burst's kick hit Inferna in the center of the back, knocking her forward into Aquella's rising wall of water. Realizing what had happened, she quickly used small bursts of flame to propel herself up higher, then dropped a flaming kick at Aquella, forcing her to expend even more energy to turn her walls into a dome. Tendril grinned as the light within the dome grinned, giving him a little bit more darkness to pump into his attacks.

Leatherhead himself reappeared opposite Velious, the group defending Ciel now between the two of them. From his arm-cannon shot a glowing spike, which struck the ground beneath the heroes' feet and released a paralyzing shock.

The shock itself was negated and absorbed by a now conscious yet weakened Soshiro, who had managed to make it over to the group in time. "Looks like I can still fight..." he said, breathing heavily, although it was clear that it was taking a lot of energy and even more willpower.

"Hm?" Velious seemed interested at Soshiro's sudden return to the fray. "Even though I took back some of my power from you, and despite that I'm much stronger than I ever was....you still want to stand in my way?"

Crystal stood upright and rushed over to Soshiro. "Are you alright? Don't push yourself too much!" She placed her glowing hand on his arm, offering to heal him. Silver and Cutter dashed ahead to strike at Leatherhead. Silver swiped his spear at the gator's arm, while Cutter reared around to his side and slung a razor sharp boomerang in his direction.

A neon green, wireframe wall appeared between Cutter and Leatherhead, deflecting the boomering back towards Cutter. Velious, with his hand outstretched, flicked his fingers inward, sending the wall flying towards Cutter.

Cutter easily caught the boomerang from the air, but was startled by the wireframe wall. He dove to the left in order to get away from it.

Victor disappeared into smoke once more to avoid the stone punch, and simply made his was closer to Levi. His reflexes were stunning, and it appeared he had the upperhand. He continued his flurry of close strikes, trying to leave Levi incapacitated.

Levi's reflexes were nothing to shrug at either. With grace and speed he was able to at least keep Victor at bay by parrying and blocking his attacks, although it was clear that he didn't have much room to breathe.

There was a sudden crack, the unmistakable report of a rifle being fired; a bullet whizzed past Victor's head.

Eventually, Gizmo and the others managed to spot Levi off in the distance, battling one of the cleaners. "There he is." He said. "He might be in trouble. Let's go!" He, Kitty, Thunder, Kyle and Keela all dashed across the battlefield, hoping to reach him before something bad happened. Lightning, Electric and Zap decided to stay back and help the others. They split up in different directions, Lightning heading to stop Leatherhead's assault, Electric to round up the rest of the group after being disoriented from the darkness, and Zap to help Crystal guard Ciel.

Paroi grunted in frustration at the sudden turn of events. "I cannot fight," he muttered. He held a compressed ball of multicoloured enegry in his hand, and seemed to make special effort to keep his hand still. This orb is our only way out of here; if I lose my concentration, we are lost.

Electric stopped in front of Smash and Pearl, the former of who was just finished recovering from the earlier blow and was looking around. "Are you alright, Smash?" He asked.

"I'm fine. Where is everyone else?" Smash asked in return.

"I'm over here." Splice said from behind. Turning around, Smash and Pearl saw him next to Violet and Inverse David. "What just happened?"

"Not sure, but stay alert." Pearl said, looking around with concern. She soon spotted Ciel and Paroi, along with Velious and Leatherhead. "I think V's is after them..." Everyone followed her gaze, and saw the battle taking place in front of the two people they needed most. "Not good...Let's go." Smash took off to engage the enemy, with the others soon following behind.