Crossover Together ~クロスオーバ 一緒に~

Lunchtime at Orora high. On the surface, the lunchroom was relatively normal, and nothing really seemed out of place, but the absence of a multitude of Team Harmony was something some couldn't ignore entirely. They were aware of their mission out and about for demon hunting at this point, but for Envy, the situation had turned a little more critical. Sure, them rushing after multiple demons was quite a danger itself, but just how long could they go on for? Before envy could continue, Terasaka and his gang went on over to him for some lunch time together.

"Hey, Envy," Kirara said, as she sat down next to him. Terasaka, Takuya, and Yoshida sat down across from him, ready to have their lunch.

"Hey guys. Kirara, did you uh ..."

"Got it right here. Here you go," Kirara said, pulling out an item from her bag, turning out to be another installment of the Count of Monte Crisco. guess some habits are hard to break.
So, as Envy was reading his new addition, the rest of the gang started to handle some simple chit-chat. One subject in particular.

"So, anyone else notice teach earlier?" Yoshida asked.

"Yeah, not often does he get this bummed out," Kirara noted, working her memory on the demon.

It was awfully quiet over in study hour off in 3-E. The students went through the hour fairly quietly, going through some basic studies, but unlike other study hours, this one was annoyingly accompanied by the sound of squishing, Korosensei slumped over by the door and his tentacle weakly punching the wall. Or rather, just bumping it into the wall. His head was a different color now, and instead of typical yellow, it was a shade of blue, which is probably what summed up the mood best.

"Teach, knock it off, we're trying to study here!" one of the kids finally said. Korosensei did stop and spun around.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Korosensei insisted.

"Who knows? That demon's probably worried sick over Team Harmony's antics," Takuya figured, taking a bite from his bento box.

"How long have they been gone anyway? Easily two weeks, right?" Yoshida asked.

"Bet they're having a ball with all of this demon hunting," Kirara figured. However, Terasaka was getting a little bit antsy himself.

"Yeah, they're running off on their adventure and here we are stuck here."

"Jealous much?" Yoshida teased.

"I didn't say that, but come on! Here we are training for months on end, and we haven't done jackshit compared to what they did," Terasaka brought up. And he had a point there. Sure they had a few run ins here and there, but in an overall sense, they weren't really doing all that much.

"I know, but they have an excuse, we don't," Kirara said. However, while that was true, Envy did begin to think about a little something else he had in mind. ...

"NO WAY, they've been captured?! Oh god, oh crap, what're we gonna do now?! Sombra's gonna tear them to pieces now that they're in his world!"

Over at Orora High, upon request by Nagisa, Aladdin had stopped by the school and quickly got the main bit of information to Gakuho himself, along with Korosensei. Gakuho had to be told after their last excursion, and Nagisa Shiota simply didn't had enough time to go to school and inform right now. Aladdin had his head lowered.

"So your friends are still going to be absent?" Gakuho asked, as Korosensei was panicking not too far away.

"I'm very sorry, sir. Nagisa promised he'll make up for how much he missed, but he really needs to save his friends. Who knows what they're going through right now?" Aladdin replied. Gakuho felt a bit sorry for Nagisa. Bad enough he had to go through all this demonic nonsense, and now this.

"I'll ... excuse it. This is bigger than any grade," Gakuho decided, hand raised. Aladdin was a little surprised, but didn't try to question it for Nagisa's sake.

"Thanks," Aladdin said. Aladdin then turned and went off on his way.

... And that didn't go without a shadow listening in either.

"... Why don't we?"

The gang paused for a minute after Envy finished his question. After eating a piece of fish from his bento box, he looked to his gang.

"What, Envy?"

"Look, I don't know about you guys, but I've been meaning to get back at the Underworld for screwing me over like this," Envy said.

"We know, but what can we do? Team Harmony's been doing all the big work," Yoshida said, taking a drink of his soda.

"About that: I've heard earlier this morning Team Harmony's been taken," Envy revealed. That revelation was enough to make Yoshida choke for a second on his drink.

"W-What? Taken?" he coughed.

"You don't mean captured," Kirara assumed.

"Yep. It was bound to happen eventually, but apparently Aladdin and Nagisa had avoided it. So ..." Envy didn't need to finish up his sentence to figure out where this idea was going.

"You want us to help em out, huh? Hell, why not?" Yoshida concluded.

"They've been saving the world enough already, so we might as well return to favor," Kirara concluded. Well, that was easier than he thought, but hey, he had a gang with him, so that was pretty good for him.

"Finally, some action! So, Envy, know when they're going?" Terasaka asked. Envy readied to answer, but unfortunately his mind went blank.

"I ... I have no idea," Envy admitted. Well, that bummed them out a little bit.

"Damnit. They could've ran off already then," Takuya groaned.

"They're still here, they won't run off until after school."

The group looked off away for a moment, seeing Nakamura strolling over to them. The gal overheard their conversation apparently, and she wasn't going to miss out on this chance if what Envy said was true. The blonde went over to Envy in particular.

"How'd you know that?" Envy asked, as Nakamura sat down over by Envy.

"Saw them heading to the E building before coming to lunch. So if we're gonna head off to hell, we better get going now," Nakamura said.

"Wait, we?" asked Terasaka.

"Duh! You think you're the only one's left behind in everything, no way am I missing this," Nakamura stated.

"Nakamura, maybe you should just -" before Envy could finish, Nakamura smiled, and placed a hand on his head, giving envy a pat.

"... You don't have a choice."

Blunt, but ok. Guess Envy had another helper in this mission, whether he wanted it or not.

~~

Nakamura was right: off down towards the E building, Nagisa was taking charge and marching straight over to the building with Aladdin and Blair following in toe not too far behind. Nagisa was not going to wait around any longer for any moment now, and while normally he'd be concerned with school at this time, his thoughts were focused on his friends trapped in the Underworld. He'd seen the Underworld himself, he almost died in the Underworld, and while he never got the full taste of it, if Sombra's castle was anything to go by, it was not a place someone would want to just chill out in for too long. Aladdin, Blair, and Nagisa all had a number of items with them, carried in backpacks similar to an investigation or exploration (which this would probably end up being anyway).

"Aladdin, go down the list for me: Underworld Atlas?"

"Check," Aladdin said, showing the map amongst the number of items he was carrying.

"Portal recreation spell?"

"Right here."

"Rations?"

"Plenty of that," Blair answered, holding onto the rations herself.

"Good, we got everything we need. I got all our weapons and extra supplies with me, so we should be ready to go," Nagisa decided.
Pretty soon, almost before they realized it, the trio was over at the E building. It was clear, open, and with the main field still left alone, the perfect place to open up a portal to the Underworld without any fear of reoffending. Nagisa, Aladdin, and Blair were more than ready for this, and Nagisa got out his Halo Blade and quickly went to work on the hard ground. Blair and Aladdin stood aside and watched him quickly make out a pentagram into the dirt with his slicing, one nice and big, big enough for a quick run through. It took little time to make the symbol itself, and that was good enough for him.

"There, that should do it. Aladdin, Blair, you two ready?"

"Ready when you are, Nagisa," Aladdin said. Nagisa and Aladdin were down, but Blair still had a thing or two to make clear to them, being a resident of the Underworld herself.

"Guys, hold up. I know you're eager, who wouldn't be, but we can't just charge in! They'll find us for sure, so if we're going back, how about somewhere outside Tartarus?"

"Since when were you so worried?"

"We're going in hell, damn straight I'm worried about losing more lives than I have. I already nearly lost mine because of those slicer brothers, and they're the easy ones," Blair made clear. Guess if Nagisa wasn't going to do it, someone had to be a voice of reason, even for a little bit. Nagisa felt a sting in his plan, but he knew she was right about that. He knew jack about any particular areas of the Underworld that would actually be safe for them, and considering just how many Demons were dangerous to him and his friends, it was far easier said than done.

"Hey, hold up!"

Before they could decide where exactly to go, the new voices of some newcoming aid caught their attention, which was odd since none of them called for some extra help prior to this. Eventually, as they ran pass the E building to catch up with them, the trio saw Terasaka's gang, Nakamura, and Envy now catching up with them, glad that they didn't go off just yet. They didn't stop running until they were only a foot away, Envy up front.

"What're you guys doing here?" Aladdin asked, obviously confused.

"What does it look like we're doing? We're coming along this time," Terasaka answered.

"What?"

"Don't what us, it's our turn for some demon hunting," Nakamura said, actually already armed with a shotgun in hand. The others had some weaponry as well naturally, but this sudden recruitment caught them rather off guard.

"Now wait a minute, we're not just hunting demons here. We're going into the Underworld, I can't let you come," Nagisa stated.

"Tell us something we don't know," Takuya simply said, confusing them again until Envy stepped forward.

"Nagisa. You and your friends had done so much for this world, and for the people who lived on it. Hell, you're even ready to save my life after everything I did. The least we can do is help you get your friends back from those bastards. They're more than ready to face them, and so am I. I think I had a long enough break from the demonic stuff anyway," Envy explained. Nagisa, Blair, and Aladdin paused for a moment, and looked them all over. They all had a weapon armed on them, knife and gun armed at the ready for anything. Eventually, Nagisa addressed everybody.

"The Overworld isn't just a simple test area like what Korosensei had been giving you. If a fight starts down there, they will not hold back, and if Sombra's forces find us, they'll try to kill us on site. There's no turning back either once we're through that portal," Nagisa warned. There was a bit of resentment at first, but they were still determined either way.

"Sounds like fun to me," Nakamura said with a wink, gun raised at her side.

"Right. ... you all ready?"

"Ready, just say the word man," Takuya said, the others nodding. Clearly he had reassurance and they weren't changing their minds either.

"Open it up."

There was no more needed to be said, and Blair, Aladdin, and now Envy went over to the symbol on the ground. They still had little idea on where to go, but they can't go anywhere in the Underworld if they're just standing around here. Before they did anything, Envy reached into his pocket, and actually pulled out their key: his Philosopher's Stone, which he flicked to the center of the symbol like flipping a coin. Blair and Aladdin clapped in unison, and placed their hands onto the symbol itself, the spell quickly activating, and began to open up a portal into the ground (Envy grabbing his stone first, of course after the initial sparks). This portal was fairly big, and didn't shut up as quickly as it had when Slicer had used it, probably because no one had jumped in just yet. Nagisa brought out his halo blade, armed and ready himself.

"Let's go."

~~

The portal traveling itself didn't take longer than a minute, and the group, now up to nine again over the starting three, mainly had to deal with a decent-sized drop, a good twenty feet down from their surface world, and into the Underworld. Just to be safe, Aladdin made sure to bring out his turban after falling through to catch everyone on the way down, just in case. But even if he didn't, the ground wasn't really too far down from where the portal had opened up, and once they did hit ground (far gentler than they would've been), they took the time to look around the area. However, as the portal vanished soon after their passing, they found themselves in a fairly unknown area, much of it dry and with plenty of rocks, not dissimilar to a quarry or canyon. The rocks were dark, almost like coal, and the skies above their heads held a eerie yellowish color, with very faint clouds floating above them in a smoky haze. Nothing seemed to be around them, which was a saving grace, yet they had no clue where they were exactly.

"Looks like we're safe for now. Envy, Blair, got any idea where we ended up?" Nagisa asked.

"I do have one idea, but I can't tell from here," Envy said, trying to get some sort of clue to their whereabouts. Aladdin then looked up to a particularly high rock not too far away.

"Say no more," Aladdin said, as he got his turban on and moved over to the outcrop. In what looked like a single jump, Aladdin flew right up from their level, and onto the top of the rock. They all knew exactly what he was trying to do, and met up with him below as Aladdin took a look around.

"What do you see?!" called Nakamura.
what Aladdin was seeing was a surprisingly vast wilderness of open spaces, and a detail that Aladdin didn't expect: scattered trees. Of course it wasn't the same forests he saw back in the Surface World, many of these lacking in leaves, growing like dead skeletons in the dry soil. Aladdin still didn't had too much to go on, hand over his eyes like a shade to better see the landscape. It wasn't a fiery hell as some would assume it to be, but not as lively around here. Eventually, Aladdin looked pretty far out, and actually noticed something else: a very faint view of smoke, and a few rooftops. Eventually, Aladdin hopped back down.

"Well?" asked Envy.

"I could be wrong, but I think there's a town off that a way. ... does that help?"

"Aladdin, there's settlements all over the Underworld, that doesn't help us at all," Envy bluntly stated, bumming out Aladdin.

"Here, let me try," Nagisa said, as he began to climb up the side of the outcrop in little time until he got to the top. However, Aladdin pretty much summed up what Nagisa was seeing, but one thing Nagisa could already tell was the high amount of demonic energy around, his demon sense giving him shiver as if it was dead winter. And up exposed on a high rock didn't help him out that much either. Still, he continued looking around a bit more, and soon caught sight of something that Aladdin seemed to missed.

"I see a river off a good mile from here off that way. It looks very big too," Nagisa said, calling down from the perch. Envy and Blair tried to figure out what that could be, and eventually Blair pulled out the Underworld Atlas, skimming through the pages as Nagisa hopped back down. Envy and Blair looked over the map they got, and eventually found the details they were talking about after some skimming, which included the town and the river in the spots they've mentioned.

"Got it: we're near the Styx river. Yeah, we're good out here, too far from Tartarus for Sombra to bother us right now. Unless he's desperate," Envy informed.

"The Styx River? Isn't that the river separating us from the Underworld?" Kirara asked, a bit intrigued on the subject.

"... Uh, no? It's just a large river, but it does separate Tartarus from a few other countries," Blair said, pointing to the other country on one side, comparing it to the other two.

"So now what do we do? We're not gonna get anywhere by just standing here," Takuya said, bringing up a fairly good point. They could either start right away to Tartarus across the river, or they could try the town and figure things out from there. Nagisa had to think a bit on it, but looking around, there was one thing they had to do regardless of which side they decide to go for.

"Well, either way, we're gonna have to get out of this quarry first. Aladdin," Nagisa sighed. Aladdin knew where this was going, and after a short bit, the group were flown out of the quarry, and up onto the same level. A fairly easy task all things considered, though the easiest it'll probably get.

"Right. Blair, try and scout ahead for us?" Nagisa asked.

"Oh, sure. Try to keep up, gang," Blair said, starting to race off ahead of them. As she did that, Nagisa took a moment and gathered himself.

"Be careful guys. Stay alive."

.......

Oh, if only it were that simple.
The attack they've been horribly given, and the trick they've been dealt had left them all weakened just enough to sustain their capture. Unconscious for much of the trip, the first one to wake up from the initial drop was Twilight. She struggled to get herself awake, and checked over who else was with her. The only ones missing were Nagisa, Blair and Aladdin, everyone else not too far from her. Twilight tried to get up, but she wasn't going anywhere so quickly, feeling her arms pinned down by some red thorn chains. Her pulls only made the hooked thorns dig into her skin, so she didn't continue much further. She was in some sort of cage on wheels, all side draped in a cloak, and a strange insect-like Scolipede creature pulling it along its way. In the cage, Twilight found a few of her friends with her: Edward, Morgiana, and Karma in particular, though she had no idea where the others were at.

"Guys, wake up!" Twilight shouted. It took a bit for them to do so, but the shout did anger the creature, who responded with a loud hissing noise.

"What the hell? ... Al? Alphonse, where is he?"

"No idea, but ... I think we're -"

"Alright, in you go," said a low gurgling voice. All of a sudden the cage was opened up, but before any of them could get out, a large hand reached in and grabbed Karma before he could wake up. Karma just came to in time to feel himself get tossed into somewhere else, hitting the wall. A rude wake up call, and more bars closing up before he could get out. Edward and Twilight were in some bit of trouble, but Edward was even more so as he tried to get up, only to find his arm and leg were completely missing. No evidence of removal except for some end plates on his stubs, and as such not able to get up.
Then they got a good look at the demon that had them: a large, yellow skinned, cloaked demonic creature, the face hidden behind what looked like a slip of paper with red paint for a symbol on its face. In this case it was just two lines horizontal of eachother.

"Only three left," said another voice, turning out to be another demonic creature. This one looked similar to the first, but a bit thinner and having purple skin instead of yellow. This one took a look into the cage, seeing Morgiana first.

"What do you want to do with the Fanalis?" it asked, fingers grazing her skin. The first demon paused and went over what looked like a list of sorts. Eventually, the demon shook its head.

"She's not wanted. Throw her out," the demon advised. With a nod of the head, the second demon pulled Morgiana out through the bars. Twilight didn't want anyone taken away, and actually tried to pull her back, only for the first demon to grab her chains and pull back hard, the second demon tossing Morgiana over its shoulder like an old towel, before moving away. Ed tried to balance as best he could, but his remaining limbs were also chains in red thorns, digging into his hands and feet, threatening to tear them up as well. They both began to feel the cage move again, the Scolipede pulling it along to the next cell. Twilight tried to do some magic to get themselves out, but upon sensing the magical aura, the chains began to heat up quick, making Twilight stop.

"Where are we?" Edward asked.

"You two are in Purgatory, that's what. You try breaking out of those things, you won't have any limbs to run off in."

"Did you put us in these?" Twilight questioned.

"We'd put you in ice locks, but your captor suggested those instead. Just keep out of trouble, and we'll all be fine," the yellow imp advised, before the Scolipede stopped again, this time in front of what looked like a side cell. The cloak was lifted up to open the cage, this time Twilight being pulled out. Oddly the chains didn't heat up, possibly sensing the demon energy from the imp, and she was thrown into the cage herself, the bars closing up behind her just before she could get out.

"Where's everyone else?"

"Don't worry about them, they're already put in their cells before you woke up. Let's get you in yours now," the yellow Imp said, grabbing hold of Ed and pulling him out. the Scolipede went on its way, and it was revealed that a hanging cage was right behind it, which the Imp placed Edward into. Ed struggled to get free, but with only one arm and one leg, he was only as strong as a wriggling fish. Edward couldn't move all too well, let alone get himself out, so once he was in that cage, he couldn't get himself out. Then by some unknown force, the cage began to lift away, Ed only able to watch Twilight disappear from his sight below. Now, Twilight was alone in her cell. She tried to get the bars to break, but it seemed that her magic wasn't enough. She focused her aura on the bars, hoping some pressure could break them, but the bars actually ended up on fire!

"Come on, come on!" Twilight said in hope, thinking it was the fire spell she activated. Unfortunately, the bars were just set off a warning system, and the bars turned back to normal in little time at all. Twilight just tried her strength, but the bars were very sturdy and not moving at all. She thought for a brief moment that it was all done, but then she remembered the save at the last second, and the only three members that didn't get caught.

"Damn it. Damn it! I can't believe it ... Nagisa. Aladdin. Blair. Wherever you are, you'd better hurry, please."

~~

Pretty soon, they were off and on their way again. They would normally fly, though as much as they've insisted on such, if they did try to fly they were be easy targets to spot, so to keep out of sight they had to walk instead. They weren't going to become flying targets so soon, nor were any of them interested in such, so traveling on foot was their best bet. They all took a look around the spaced forest as they walked along on their way. The only other animal out there with them was an occasional bat, hanging up in the trees and watching them go by like vultures.

"Hey Envy, the Underworld isn't all this barren, is it? No offense, but I was expecting a bit more action coming in," Nakamura asked, a bit bored to be honest.

"Really? You should be lucky we didn't run into trouble yet!" Envy said. Sure, it was a dangerous place, but that didn't mean he wanted to start something in here!

"Yeah, yeah, but you'd think that something would pop up right now aside from these dumb bats," Yoshida commented, just for one of the bats to flutter on by him, screeching for a moment before going out of sight.

"Will you quit complaining, we're not here to start a bar fight, we're here to get that team back. I'm not willing to get killed right away," Terasaka said firmly.

"Thank you, you beat me to it," Envy added in.

"Come on, dude, we'll be fine. I mean, just what can end up -"

"DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE," Envy warned. Last thing they needed right now was a jinx, and Yoshida clammed up on seeing how serious Envy was in that statement.

"Geez, I'm only joking," Yoshida said, hands raised in submission. As they continued, Envy looked up to the sky.

Their conversation was overheard by Nagisa, who on the idea began to worry a little bit. His demon sense was alive still, even if faint, but what kind of demons would end up roaming around here was what worried him. and indeed, it was strange that nothing came up after them just yet. He took a look over to Envy.

"Damn, it's been forever since I've last been here. Has it already been nearly a year?" Blair wondered, checking out the area. It was surely a sense of nostalgia for her, but before she could continue, Nagisa tapped her shoulder.

"So do you know the place, Blair?"

"Eh, it's been a while since I've been in the Underworld, so it's still a bit hazy," Blair answered, hands behind her head casually. Nagisa sighed, and looked on ahead of them, wiping some sweat off his head.

"Tired already? How'd you save the world if you can barely walk half a mile?" Kirara asked, just for Blair to nudge her.

"No, no, I'm fine. It's just been a while since my Demon sense has been this active," Nagisa sighed, forgetting a moment that most of the group didn't even know about his senses.

"So you can sense demons now?" Takuya asked, scratching his head.

"It's been something I've had for a long time. ... I don't know if it'll work as well in here though with it so active over everything," Nagisa stated, just as another few bats flew by his head, making him shiver. Even the bats are demonic apparently, and they flew fairly close to them. While two bats did fly by, one bat gave a pain-filled screech right behind them, making them turn around fast. They only found one bat flying that time, a lot faster and more frantic.

"Who's there?!" Terasaka demanded, gun out and ready. ...

*nyaa*

Nyaa? Turned out, it was only a cat, holding a now dead blue bat in its teeth. The cat looked up to them for a moment or two before it shook the bat again. The group calmed down a little bit, but Terasaka felt a little stupid.

"Seriously?" Terasaka groaned, teeth gritting and hand to forehead. Freaking out over a little cat. Really.

*hiss*

Turning around again, and out came another cat, but this one looked a little bigger than the first cat, hair raised and barring its teeth in a threat display. Nagisa started to feel a little uneasy with the situation, considering where they were, and raised his Halo Blade their way.

"Another one? ..."

*rowr!*

THAT made them all on edge now, this time looking up into the trees. Once there was bats, but now about several cats appeared above their heads! Each cat had black fur, and each were eyeing down to them like leopards, and probably just as much of a predator. Some were laying in the branches, some hissing at them, and some coming down from the trees to confront them. Next thing they all knew, they were surrounded by an entire clan of cats, a good fifty of them! And none of them looked very happy to see em, as they kept hissing and growling at them. It wouldn't be too bad if there wasn't so many of them.

"Ok, the hell's with all these cats?" Yoshida said, feeling uneasy now as they began to come close. some of them started to back up, but this only made Takuya step on a cat's tail, making it wail and slash at him! Takuya managed to dodge the slash, and aim his knife down at the same cat, making a number of them hiss and growl at him again. Eventually though, Terasaka found one just too close to him.

"Back off!" he yelled, and he actually pulled the trigger on one of them. Suddenly, ten of the cats bolted up off the ground in one jump, and landed in a nearby tree, but five of them leaped back down at him and one grabbed his gun, two which cut his face!

"HEY!" Terasaka snapped. Suddenly, several other cats rushed at them, jumping at them and taking their weapons one by one. Try as they might, at least one of the clan members got them disarmed, either a gun or a knife in their teeth. Some even got them right out of their pockets just to be sure they were indeed disarmed. Nagisa was a little more difficult to disarm, being a bit quick on moving, but even he got his Halo Blade taken from him after one sneaky cat landed on his head and distracted him for that brief moment.

"Damnit," Nagisa groaned. Once they were all disarmed, one other cat began to move out from the crowd, a few of the cats moving aside to let it through. As appearances go, it was nothing more than a black tom cat, golden eyes looking up at them.

"... You're a bit far from home, aren't you?" the cat said.

"D-Did he just talk?!" gasped Yoshida.

"It's not the weirdest thing in the world," Envy commented. Nagisa tried to calm down the best he could, but his demon sense was going haywire as this seemingly small cat neared him.

"We're just passing through, honestly."

"A few humans just passing through the Underworld. Yeah, sure," the cat said.

"HOLD IT!"

Everything stopped when Blair finally spoke up, now going up to the front of the group, and kneeling down to the cat's level. None of the clan really took too much note of Blair up to this point, and the black cat stayed quiet and looked over who this was. Before they could fully confirm, Blair then turned from human and down to cat, though her witch hat did cover her body for a little bit until she lifted it off of her. ...

"Hey there. I'm back."

"Blair!"

"Wait, what?" the rest thought, a number of the cats going over to Blair. Well, this was unexpected, but at least the cats stopped fighting them.

"Where have you been?" one of the cats asked.

"We thought you lost all your nine lives," said another.

"Oh, out and about you know. I had to high-tail it to the Surface World, and it's there I found these cute humans," Blair explained, presenting the humans to them. Now the cats were looking them over a bit more curiously than aggressively.

"An explanation, Blair?" Envy asked, dumbfounded more than anything. Blair turned to them with a cheeky smile.

"We're in luck: I told you guys I came from the Underworld, and get this - this is my clan! We'll be good around here," Blair explained.

~~

Well what're the odds of this? They've been in the Underworld for at least an hour now, and already they got some friendlier company in Blair's clan. Well, friendlier in a vague sense, but they weren't trying to kill them anymore, so that was good. Once that was cleared up, the group were given their weapons back, and were actually brought back over towards the town they've seen when they arrived (go figure).
For the town itself, the place looked about as run down as they've expected it to be: many of the houses old to the hands of time, though when it comes to the cats, it was home sweet home. That didn't mean each house was a complete wreck however, as some of them were well-maintained while others were left to rot away. Many of the buildings were easily accessible at least, and soon the clan brought their visitors over to the lead cat's den - it was a shrine off to the north of town - and letting them inside. The group took a load off in the shrine, with the talking black cat and Blair sitting across from them. Several other cats were around as well, peering in and seeing what was going to happen. Seemed that humans were a rare sight in this part of the Underworld, at least casual ones like this.

"So you're Blair's leader?" Nagisa started.

"That's right. I'm Yoruichi Shihōin. And word around the Underworld says that you've got a history against us, is that right?" the black cat asked.

"Well, me yeah. ... Whether I like it or not," Nagisa admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

"Petty," Yoruichi said with a smirk, which probably wasn't the right word for him.

"So what are you exactly? Clearly you're not normal cats," Takuya asked, looking at some of the cats nearby as they talked to one another.

"Well you're not in a normal world, so there. Talking cats isn't the most surprising thing to find down here, though if you can get down here yourselves you probably knew that already," Yoruichi noted.

"Eh, yeah, pretty much. Thanks for not ... well, killing us," Envy said. The least he could do, as Yoruichi moved over to him, starting to sniff him a little bit. As he sniffed him over, the cat began to notice something in his pocket, Envy trying to get him to stop, just for the cat to pull out his Philosopher's Stone.

"So that's the odd scent. You a former Homunculus?"

"What the - how the hell'd you know that?" Envy gasped, as Yoruichi examined the small stone he dug out.

"All of your friends are either magical or armed to the teeth. Yet you only have this," Yoruichi pointed out, pawing the stone for a bit before Envy grabbed it and kept it away from the peeping cat.

"Yeah, so what? I don't need knives and guns to protect myself in this place," that was a lie, but a well-made one, yet Yoruichi didn't look as convinced as anyone else would be.

"Speaking of, I find it hard to believe that a bunch of cats are living fine in this hellhole," Nakamura commented. Yoruichi walked back to Blair, and sat down.

"You still think that we're just normal cats?" Blair asked in disbelief.

"No, but talking can't save you from getting killed."

"... I get it. You want to see my true form, then?"

"True form?" Nagisa asked.

The black cat began to smirk, and Blair knew EXACTLY what was coming next. The cat moved off to give Yoruichi some space to handle his transformation. As the cat stood there, a mist started to form up around him, slowly but surely covering him up. It wasn't as immediate as what Blair did, nor purple clouds, but the effect was still there, and they began to suspect the true power of this cat coming to life on them. Nagisa felt a surge of demonic energy come around, and his hand gripped the blade in case of some sort of attack. Blair however, suddenly turning into her human form, grabbed the blade first and kept it there so he wouldn't jump at him.
... Then came the true form. Yoruichi Shihōin now stood at average height for any human being his age, skin darkened, and eyes still the same golden irises as the cat. His hair, black like the fur, turned waist-length, with a mixture of side bangs and a ponytail. Oh, and one detail? ... He was actually a she, slender and well-endowed women. And she smirked smugly to them, the girl completely naked.

"W-WHAT THE HELL?!" Terasaka gasped, all of them shocked and off their guard at the sudden display of feminism and sex standing in front of them. Nagisa quickly slammed his eyes closed, hand covering his eyes for good measure. The shocked reactions from the group just made Yoruichi snicker to herself, her arms crossed around her boobs just as the mist cleared around them. Nakamura and Kirara, being the only girls in this group, had a bit of mixed feelings about it as the boys ... well, either look or not, there was no in between here. Blair ended up laughing herself silly.

"OH, how I missed that! I forgot how hilarious that was!" Blair said, laughing all the while from the reaction. The only one not freaking out too much was Envy, but he kept his gaze lowered anyway so he wouldn't piss of the others. Yoruichi then began to strut closer to them.

"Surprised are ya? You all thought I was a boy, didn't you? Can't say it's the first time, my cat form does have a male voice with it, but then again it's always fun to see how people like you react to seeing the real me like this.~ Now as for your little escapade, maybe our clan can -"

"FOR GOD'S SAKE, BITCH, PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" yelled Nakamura.

Sometime later, and Yoruichi did just that, looking a little disappointed all the same. The outfit she had on now was a step better than earlier: an orange overshirt with a black undershirt, white straps on her shoulders, a beige sash around her waist, and black stretch pants with brown shoes. Not a standard outfit, but hey, it saved them the trouble of anymore embarrassment. The ONLY one aside from Blair without a problem was Aladdin, but envy kept him well back by gripping his own ponytail like a leash.

"Well, I can see where Blair learned that trick from," Nagisa thought.

"Now, as I was saying, maybe our clan can give you somewhere for the night. It could be fun for us," Yoruichi said. Takuya and Yoshida glanced over back to some of the other cats nearby.

"Eh, you're not gonna say the other cats are like you, are you?"

"I won't."

"They are," they thought. Blair was down for the idea, but Nagisa then got up.

"It's a nice offer, but I'm afraid we can't. We're on a very tight schedule, and we have to get going," Nagisa made clear.

"Come on, Nagisa, this is my hometown! What other chance can I get to show you around the neighborhood?" Blair said.

"That and you won't get far anyway," added in Yoruichi.

"Why not? You kitty bitch think we can't make it out on our own?" accused Nakamura.

"No: it's that it's getting late. Any of you looked outside?" Yoruichi asked, pointing a slender finger off back outside. They weren't sure what she was talking about.

"The hell are you talking about, it's only -" before she could finish, one look outside and it already showed that the world was getting dark! That one look outside immediately made them at a loss of words.

"HOW THE HELL?!" Nakamura gasped.

"How'd it get so dark so quick, we just got here an hour ago!" said Yoshida.

"The Underworld doesn't have the same clock as you all do. And might I add in that you might be hunted by the Gillian if you go off at night here," Yoruichi warned. That made them feel a little bit unnerved, with the exception of Kirara, Envy, and Blair.

"A Gillian? what's a Gillian? Envy, Blair?" Aladdin asked. That was something Heine didn't teach him up on yet, and where they were, it could be anything.

"Oh, shit, I forgot about those things," Envy said, hand to forehead, and a little bit troubled himself again.

"What? What are they?" Nagisa asked.

"Eh, let me see. ... Their about as tall as a building, draped in black, have a gaping hole in their stomachs, have these pointy-nosed white masks, and roam around the Underworld at night to pick off any stray person, or even demon that's running too far from their settlements. Think of them as like a wilder version of curfew patrol."

"Shouldn't you thought of telling us that before we jumped down here?!" snapped Terasaka.

"It slipped my mind, okay?!" snapped back Envy. However, this new idea did make Nagisa very worried. If the possibility is that his friends were just dumped out in the open for those things to capture, who knows where they would be by now. Or for that matter, if they were still alive or not. Still, the last thing he needed was to freak out all over again.

"Well, I don't care what's roaming down here. My friends are all stuck here, and I'm not going home until I find them and get them back," Nagisa made clear, determined to get his friends back.

"Neither am I," said Aladdin.

"So you lot are going to stay here for a bit, or no? It's the closest settlement within a hundred miles of the Styx river, and unless you all plan on staying in the river, I say you might as well get comfy."

"Wait a minute, don't they go into settlements too?" Nakamura asked.

"Rarely, but only those that're controlled by another deity, and even then they won't wander off into a town unless they're told to," Blair explained. Kirara scratched her head for a moment or two, but then something came up in her mind.

"Gillian, Gillian ... wait, that's a Hollow, isn't it? A type of spirit trapped in limbo too long?" Kirara asked. Yoruichi looked impressed.

"That's right. Ran across one before?"

"Well, we have our own demon egghead named Korosensei, and he went on about demon types for a whole week straight," Kirara admitted.

"Oh yeah, he did mention that, didn't he?" Takuya noted, thinking back to the many demon lessons he gave to the E class. It was still a bit foggy in details, but Hollows were indeed mentioned during Korosensei's O so many lectures and demonstrations.

"Korosensei? Isn't he some yellow octopus with a school uniform?"

"And judging by you, I don't see why he wouldn't meet you before," Nakamura teased, knowing his perverted side to the demon.

"That aside, Yoruichi. ... What do these Gillian do with those they find?" Nagisa asked, at least wanting to get that off his mind.

"You know, it depends on which one. some Gillian just slaughter their prey while others drag them back to their lairs. If they're controlled though, they would bring them to their masters, or whatever the hell else they want to do with them. So, word of advice: don't get caught alone out there," Yoruichi advised. Something that could so unsaid at this point.

"You can kill these things, can't you?"

"Not that I'm aware of. Believe me, I tried," Yoruichi answered.

"Damnit. Well in that case, we don't have a choice. We'll wait it out for tonight, then go off tomorrow morning. Or whenever the lights comes up, whichever comes first," Nagisa decided.

"Yeah, sounds good. Hey Yoruichi, any rooms for us?" Yoshida asked.

"Oh, I think I can find one place. You mind, Blair?"

"You need to ask? Of course I'm cool with it, they let me stay up there as things were getting testy down here."

"Good to note. Follow blair, she'll take you to her home to stay."

Now Blair was a bit confused, as was Nagisa, Envy, and Aladdin.

"Wait. Her home? I thought it got destroyed, didn't it?"

Yoruichi only smirked on that answer.

.......

Pretty soon, they were brought from one part of town to another, and this time the home that was in front of them looked less like a house, and more like a ... well ... a vegetable. The entire outer building had the shape, and coloration of what one could assume to be two pumpkins stacked onto eachother, small on top, large on bottom. A few windows were along the bottom half, and those on top made it look like a face: two upside-down triangle eyes and a triangle mouth. The so-called 'stem' of the top pumpkin was the chimney.

"I-It's here! MY HOME'S BACK!" Blair beamed, her eyes wide and sparkling.

"Well, since you've ran off, I figured this would be a nice little surprise for when you would come back," Yoruichi said. The others took a moment to check out what kind of house this was.

"This is your house? Looks more like someone's Halloween project," Takuya said, scratching his head.

"Hey, how many people do you know that live in a house like this?"

"None." the group replied.

"Well, beggars can't be choosers. Still beats being hunted by Hollows," Kirara shrugged. Well, they might as well go in, but before Terasaka could go, Yoruichi took a look at him.

"Now what?"

"I noticed one of my clan members got you pretty good there," Yoruichi noted, a finger gently pointing to Terasaka's cuts. For what it is, and what it could've been, Terasaka shrugged it off.

"I'll be fine, it's just a scratch," Terasaka said.

"Oh? You sure you don't want to heal up?"

"Heal up for what? I'm sure no one died from getting a damn cat scratch," Terasaka retorted. He tried to go but Yoruichi still had her grip on him.

"But they will when a Hollow sniffs out your blood as you travel."

... Well shit.

~~

"Aaahh~ that's the stuff.~"

After some time getting the others comfortable, Blair was actually away from home a little bit and off into town joining a few of her clan members for a night drink. Her drink was also joined by Yoruichi, both clan cats having a drink of milk (nothing alcoholic for this group). Blair was enjoying it pretty nicely, and was glad to be back with her old clan in the world.

"Been a while since we had this time together, huh?" Yoruichi asked.

"Been too long," Blair replied, gulping about bit of her milk glass. Yoruichi smiled, though she still had something she wanted to talk to Blair about.

"So Blair. Have you really thought about what happens now?"

"Now?"

"About staying with your clan or not."

Blair suddenly stopped her drinking for a moment on that question. It was nice to meet up with her clan again no doubt about it, but she didn't consider the option until now, a bit too caught up with Team Harmony's shenanigans.

"Well. It is nice to see you all again, not to mention having a house again, but ..." Blair wondered how to exactly consider it and say it the right way. Yoruichi took a sip of her milk glass, the clever cat knowing exactly where this was going.

"But you're worried about your group."

"Eh... well, more than half of them's actually locked up right now, so, yeah."

"Locked up?"

"Well, we think they are. Team Harmony's been on Sombra's pay roll for nearly a year now, so why wouldn't they be," Blair explained. Yoruichi got the identity and main problem already, so Blair at least didn't had to explain it completely to her for a second time.

"Ah, got it. ... Well, if you are going to go off and do that, no point in stopping you. Just try not to forget about us little kitties, will ya?" Yoruichi said, fluffing Blair's hair. Blair smiled to her leader.

"Did I ever tell ya how happy I am to know ya?" Blair said. The response afterwards was a toast as they clanked their glasses and had a good time.

.......

Meanwhile, Terasaka was in another part of this strange town. It was indeed getting late, just at dusk, but not officially night time yet though that was harder to tell. Terasaka still found it silly to go and heal up just from a few scratches, but if even half of what Yoruichi, Blair, and Envy said about those hollows were true, then he wasn't going to take any chances with them.
After some direction given by the locals, Terasaka found himself in a more well-lit area, just on the border of the cat clan town. What was the place he found? Well, turned out it appeared to be a sort of spring. A hot spring surrounded by rocks inside the interior of a cave, lit up by magical aura. Well, a spring is a spring, and Terasaka didn't see anything too wrong with this one in particular, so after some stripping down, he went on in and got comfortable in the water.

"So dark already? Damn, what kind of timezone is this place in? Ah, well at least we got ourselves some place for the night before the real hell could show up. This feels pretty good," Terasaka said. The water was nice and warm as any hot spring would be, and Terasaka splashed some water on his face. Some of the blood got off, but as he placed his hand onto it, he began to notice something. ...
The cut not only healed up, but disappeared!

"Whoa, this spring heals you?! How the hell did it do that?" Terasaka gasped. Sure, they always say it's therapeutic, but this was amazing! Terasaka splashed about in the water for a bit, feeling the magic of the spring healing him up. He got some of the water in his hands, taking a moment to think. This was the Underworld, a place of pain and misery, yet it has hot springs that actually heal wounds. Contradictory if he had to admit it.

"Having a good time in there?" asked a voice nearby. Terasaka had his back turned to Yoruichi, so he had no real problem. ... Of course, he couldn't see what she was doing behind him either, until ...

"Well, if it's that nice, I might as well join you."

Oh boy.

"THE HELL YOU ARE!"

"What's the matter, I don't see the problem here.~"

"You're taking your pants off for one thing!"

"Oh, stop being so stiff. Then again, maybe that won't be too bad.~"

"Will you get out of here?!"

Then a cat's paw stepped into the water, and Terasaka found it was just the cat form instead. Yoruichi swam up past Terasaka, not as freaking out as he was earlier.

"That's much better. Oh? You look a little disappointed. You wanted to see me naked, don't you? You little pervert."

"I'm gonna drown you," Terasaka growled. His attempts for doing so were fruitless though, and Yoruichi was as safe as can be. Terasaka and Yoruichi were now in the spring, and Terasaka simply kept his mouth shut. As long as Yoruichi kept her cat form (and didn't get more curious about him), then he's fine.

"You enjoying the hot spring?" Yoruichi asked.

"Well, it's helping me. Since when is it that hell has the healing springs?" Terasaka questioned.

"Think about this for a minute: you're in a world where it's more night than day, with even the moths that can be dangerous and want to have you for a snack. Something like this is more vital than you take it for," Yoruichi explained. In a way, she was right. If any of the demons they've come across were anything to go by, then some extra health boosts would not only vital, but required if one thinks about it.

"Damn. and to think you call this home sweet home. So - AH!"

AND Yoruichi was naked and human again. Terasaka stumbled back into the water, Yoruichi giggling a little.

"Always the same reaction, isn't it?"

"Can't you at least close your legs?" Terasaka asked, keeping his back to her. Yoruichi smiled flirtatiously, but before her teasing could continue, they both began to hear some more footsteps off a ways. Yoruichi turned around and saw Envy coming over to them. Envy didn't really care seeing Yoruichi naked, which Yoruichi noticed.

"Ah, Envy. Taking a peek at me, are you, you naughty boy?" Yoruichi teased. But Envy literally stepped passed her and went straight to Terasaka.

"Don't pretend I'm not here.~"

"Blair showed us her naked bod half an hour ago, you're not showing me anything new," Envy bluntly stated, and he pushed Yoruichi off of him. She never thought anyone would say that to her.

"You gonna be longer, Terasaka?"

"Nah, I'm getting out," Terasaka replied. Envy nodded, and started to walk out as Terasaka grabbed a nearby towel. He felt he'd been healed enough anyway.

~~

"I always wondered what your home was like, Blair."

As Terasaka was getting healed up for his cuts, the rest of the group took time to see what Blair's home was all about. Funny thing though, even with the odd outer look and where they were at altogether, Blair's home looked nothing different from what one would find in the houses back in Tokyo: much of the group over in the living room. Considering it was just a one-person home, the living room was fairly small, though well lit on the inside. Odd thing though, they couldn't really make out where the light was coming from, but hey, that's a minor detail.

"So, now what do we do?"

"Exactly what I said: we're just gonna wait it out here until tomorrow morning, then figure out where the others are from there. They could be anywhere in this world," Nagisa said, having the Underworld Atlas out in front of them. It did show a lot of the place, but they do need some idea. He looked down to the map more closely, wiping off some sweat from his head.

"Well, Sombra's kingdom is Tartarus over here. So, if this Slicer is taking them in, then all we need to do is cross the Styx River and work our way from there," Envy explained, looking over the map himself.

"Straight-forward," Kirara said.

"No it's not: we don't know if Slicer's even working for him," Nagisa brought up.

"What'chu mean?" Takuya asked.

"Come on guys, not every demon we've met worked with Sombra. Tirek released Pluton onto the world and he apparently hates the guy, and I don't think the Great Tengu would be someone Sombra would even bother with," Nagisa explained. Regardless if they actually knew about Tirek or the Great Tengu, the point was still made across.

"Damnit, you're right. So now what, do we find his boss around here or something?"

"What else could we do?" Nagisa sighed. He hated to say that, but if they go in the wrong direction, it would just leave them in more trouble down here, and his friends would be in even more trouble as well.

"Ok then, Envy, you got any idea? I mean, you lived here for most of your life, right, you know anything about this Slicer?" Yoshida asked. Envy tried to work the gears in his head. Someone like him would be a notable name in the Underworld if he was from around here.

"Slicer, Slicer ... we are talking about a transmutation here, right?"

"So you do know him! Come on, where'd he go?" Aladdin asked excitedly.

"No idea. I barely know the guy personally, but rumors say he's actually wanted by the Underworld for onslaught."

"Wait. ... Wanted. In the Underworld?"

"We have rules here too, shocking I know. From what I've heard, Slicer took it too far and decided to cut up demons for some amusement instead, and that was just enough to do them in," Envy explained. This only made things more complicated: why would the Slicer brothers decide to go to the Underworld if they were outlaws of such a place?

"An outlaw of the Underworld. That's new," Kirara said.

"Yeah, I'd never would've guessed rules even applied down here," Nakamura added.

"They're just a bit more loose, that's all," Envy replied.

"But then, where'd he go? Sounds like walking into a kingdom won't be his first option," Takuya asked, trying to get some idea. Before any of them could figure out some sort of answer ...

"You-hoo, everyone having a good time?~" In entered Blair in her human form. Not really too bad, but the girl was dressed in only a towel. And considering how she was showing her cleavage, this kitty was feeling playful.

"So which one of you boys wants to take a bath with me? The water's nice and warm,~" Blair cooed, bringing her hands up behind her head. Soon, much to their surprise, the towel began to unravel itself! Nagisa quickly turned around before her naked body could fully be on display, and the other boys were a bit caught off guard.

"COME ON, YOU TOO?!" Nagisa said.

"Why not? You're in my house now," Blair joked. Aladdin, goofy smiled, waited to have fun with her fun bags, but Nagisa kept him back. Kirara glanced over to Envy, who didn't really care much at this point.

"You're pretty cool with her being naked."

"I lived in the Underworld Kirara, that's the least traumatizing thing one can run into."

"True. Hey, Blair," Kirara said, looking over to the naked cat witch. Blair got her towel back on, giggling to herself, before looking to Kirara, who now had the atlas shown to her.

"We need to know where the Slicer went off to. Got any ideas?" Kirara asked.

"Aren't we trying to get to Tartarus?"

"The slicer took them away, Blair, and according to our Homunculus, he's a homicidal criminal in the Underworld. Unless he plans on turning himself in, he won't just waltz right to their front door," Nakamura said. That was pretty intriguing to the witch, and actually began to realize something.

I was to be executed a long time ago. But instead of that, I had been transmutated into this suit of armor, and made into what you could say as a guard dog.

"So that's what he meant."

"What?" Aladdin asked.

"Oh, nothing. Well, if he did collect them, he could be hired by Sombra still."

"So they would be in Tartarus?"

"Eh ... maybe? But not near the castle. Your team's been an enemy to the underworld for nearly a year straight, so if you all were to go anywhere, I'd put my money on ..." Blair took a minute to lean forward and check the map again. she looked to where they were, and then up the atlas a bit, passed the Styx River, and then made her mark over on the most eastern point passed Tartarus and to another country. Envy shivered on her conclusion.

"Y-you're not thinking there really, are you?" Envy asked.

"Where else would Sombra dump them?"

"And what's there? A prison?"

"Well ... sort of. It's a purgatory called "Abaddon". It was once a mine that servants are put into to as punishment in case they start retaliating. But eventually Tirek had it turned into a type of purgatory, and remained that way since. Unless Sombra decided to change it that is," Envy explained.

"Don't see why he would, that purgatory's the most secure one in the Great Rift, and closest to Tartarus," Blair noted.

"Interesting," Kirara simply said, finding it fascinating of an idea.

"Sounds like a place Sombra would put them. He wouldn't want any of them to find any secrets in his own home if any of them would break out," Nagisa said. He would think that, since Nagisa had done that already with the atlas, portal AND stone Envy had on him, and if he were Sombra, he wouldn't want to risk something like that twice, and with so many others over just one as well.

"Sounds good to me. Anyone wanna tell Terasaka?" Takuya asked.

"I'll do it," Envy replied, getting up and heading out. They got the place, and they got the plan.

"Well it's settled then. so as we're all ready, we're heading off to Abaddon," Nagisa decided.

.......

Farther off into the lands of the Underworld, the blue Imp moved out to a more opened wasteland, Morgiana still on its shoulders. It wasn't a very comfortable ride, but Morgiana knew it would be the best bet to get out of the trap they've fallen into, at least for her. Soon, the Imp stopped at a drop in the path, and like some garbage, threw Morgiana right down into the ditch. It's not the most clever way to get rid of someone, but hell, they were gone and that's what mattered. Once the Imp had moved away far enough, Morgiana sprung back to life, and got to her feet in little time at all.
The Fanalis stayed quiet just in case, and brought her senses to the forefront. She didn't utter a sound, eyes closed, and hands on the ground.

"I'm coming."